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Aliso Viejo Middle

Public Grades 6-8

233^rd

SchoolDigger Rank ?

of 2,761 California Middle Schools

Better than 92% of California middle schools

Summary

Aliso Viejo Middle is a well-regarded public school serving about 800 students in grades 6 through 8 in the Capistrano Unified School District, consistently earning top ratings and performing well above state averages in English, Math, and Science.

The school stands out for its effective support of all students, achieving strong academic results even while serving a student population with a higher level of economic need than some neighboring schools like Ladera Ranch Middle. It performs particularly well for students from low-income families, those learning English, and students in special education, ranking in the 90th percentile or higher for these groups statewide. While its chronic absenteeism rate is better than the district and state averages, it is slightly higher than some local peers such as Fred Newhart Middle.

Within its own district, Aliso Viejo Middle is a solid performer, though schools like Ladera Ranch Middle and Don Juan Avila Middle have similar or slightly higher rankings. It significantly outperforms most middle schools in the neighboring Saddleback Valley Unified district. The school achieves these outcomes efficiently, with per-student spending lower than some comparison schools, demonstrating a successful model of equitable education for its diverse community.

803

Students ?

22.3

Student/teacher ratio ?

$19,508

Per pupil spending ?

35.4%

Free/discounted lunch ?

111 Park Ave.
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656-2847

(949) 831-2622

District: Capistrano Unified

Students who attend Aliso Viejo Middle usually attend:

High:

Aliso Niguel High

Feeder schools for Aliso Viejo Middle:

Elementary:	Laguna Niguel Elementary
	Marian Bergeson Elementary
	Oak Grove Elementary

Racial breakdown:

White:

53.9%

Hispanic:

19.2%

Asian:

13.6%

See top rated California middle schools

Compare Aliso Viejo Middle to nearby middle schools!

At a glance

▬ Ranking trend: Holding steady — 96th percentile in 2013 → 92nd in 2025

Strengths

✓Test scores above the California average (66% vs 41% meeting standards)

✓Ranks in the top 8% of California middle schools

Worth a look

!Some student groups rank well below the school's overall statewide standing

!Large classes — about 22 students per teacher

Students meeting standards (2024-2025) ?

This school66%

District avg65%

California avg41%

233^rd of 2,761

California public middle schools ?

Top 8%▼ down 4 pts since 2015

From top 4% (2015) to top 8% (2025)

See the entire ranking list of California Middle Schools →

★★★★★

SchoolDigger rating ?

9^th of 13Middle Schools in the Capistrano Unified

193^rd of 1,543Capistrano Unified among California districts

Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)

Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	91.6	233 of 2761	91.6%	★★★★★
2024	93.1	208 of 2783	92.5%	★★★★★
2023	94.0	173 of 2781	93.8%	★★★★★
2022	92.4	213 of 2740	92.2%	★★★★★
2019	89.8	269 of 2715	90.1%	★★★★★
2018	92.1	187 of 2480	92.5%	★★★★★
2017	93.5	160 of 2508	93.6%	★★★★★
2016	91.7	188 of 2497	92.5%	★★★★★
2015	94.9	109 of 2477	95.6%	★★★★★
2013	89.8	89 of 2379	96.3%	★★★★★
2012	88.5	119 of 2259	94.7%	★★★★★
2011	88.5	125 of 2236	94.4%	★★★★★
2010	87.2	148 of 2179	93.2%	★★★★★
2009	87.6	143 of 2063	93.1%	★★★★★
2008	84.8	202 of 2005	89.9%	★★★★☆
2007	87.4	170 of 1999	91.5%	★★★★★
2006	88.8	140 of 1804	92.2%	★★★★★
2005	90.3	116 of 1777	93.5%	★★★★★
2004	86.4	172 of 1769	90.3%	★★★★★

Asian

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	76.0	190 of 739	74.3%	★★★★☆
2024	72.0	209 of 743	71.9%	★★★★☆
2023	76.7	143 of 715	80.0%	★★★★☆
2022	77.8	151 of 733	79.4%	★★★★☆
2019	68.9	260 of 745	65.1%	★★★☆☆
2018	76.2	157 of 700	77.6%	★★★★☆

Disabled

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2022	72.5	251 of 1531	83.6%	★★★★☆
2019	83.8	147 of 1491	90.1%	★★★★★
2018	83.9	132 of 1369	90.4%	★★★★★

English Language Learner

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2024	70.6	154 of 1478	89.6%	★★★★☆
2023	79.2	115 of 1521	92.4%	★★★★★
2022	55.3	365 of 1540	76.3%	★★★★☆
2019	62.1	276 of 1442	80.9%	★★★★☆
2018	86.5	101 of 1364	92.6%	★★★★★

Female

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	88.5	289 of 2533	88.6%	★★★★☆
2024	92.9	185 of 2551	92.7%	★★★★★
2023	92.6	185 of 2531	92.7%	★★★★★
2022	90.3	229 of 2509	90.9%	★★★★★
2019	88.7	255 of 2380	89.3%	★★★★☆
2018	91.1	198 of 2262	91.2%	★★★★★

Hispanic

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	83.4	259 of 2395	89.2%	★★★★☆
2024	88.4	169 of 2388	92.9%	★★★★★
2023	91.2	123 of 2374	94.8%	★★★★★
2022	81.7	267 of 2359	88.7%	★★★★☆
2019	76.2	377 of 2213	83.0%	★★★★☆
2018	79.2	285 of 2072	86.2%	★★★★☆

Homeless

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	81.4	45 of 477	90.6%	★★★★★
2024	69.7	69 of 394	82.5%	★★★★☆
2023	97.7	6 of 320	98.1%	★★★★★
2022	75.0	53 of 336	84.2%	★★★★☆

Low Socio Economic Status

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	89.8	174 of 2542	93.2%	★★★★★
2024	94.0	123 of 2579	95.2%	★★★★★
2023	93.4	107 of 2531	95.8%	★★★★★
2022	84.8	216 of 2458	91.2%	★★★★★
2019	79.7	310 of 2369	86.9%	★★★★☆
2018	83.1	230 of 2230	89.7%	★★★★☆

Male

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	92.5	190 of 2534	92.5%	★★★★★
2024	91.2	223 of 2552	91.3%	★★★★★
2023	93.6	160 of 2538	93.7%	★★★★★
2022	92.5	186 of 2527	92.6%	★★★★★
2019	89.2	258 of 2407	89.3%	★★★★☆
2018	91.9	181 of 2273	92.0%	★★★★★

Military Connected

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	81.2	28 of 194	85.6%	★★★★☆
2024	85.5	21 of 192	89.1%	★★★★☆
2023	92.1	11 of 197	94.4%	★★★★★
2022	77.6	36 of 193	81.3%	★★★★☆

Multi-racial

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	69.8	216 of 726	70.2%	★★★★☆
2024	73.5	175 of 701	75.0%	★★★★☆
2023	81.7	98 of 677	85.5%	★★★★☆
2022	75.5	144 of 665	78.3%	★★★★☆
2019	73.1	143 of 554	74.2%	★★★★☆
2018	71.3	138 of 462	70.1%	★★★★☆

Special Education

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	79.4	180 of 1566	88.5%	★★★★☆
2024	78.3	193 of 1552	87.6%	★★★★☆
2023	81.1	160 of 1531	89.5%	★★★★☆

White

Year	Avg score	Statewide rank	California percentile	Rating
2025	80.5	237 of 1520	84.4%	★★★★☆
2024	81.7	204 of 1537	86.7%	★★★★☆
2023	82.8	192 of 1543	87.6%	★★★★☆
2022	81.6	217 of 1555	86.0%	★★★★☆
2019	80.3	256 of 1602	84.0%	★★★★☆
2018	85.4	150 of 1496	90.0%	★★★★★

How student groups rank statewide ? (each group's percentile vs the same group at other schools — higher is better; the +/- beside each compares the group with this school's overall percentile)

Low Socio Economic Status (2025)93rd percentile~ school

Male (2025)93rd percentile~ school

Homeless (2025)91st percentile~ school

English Language Learner (2024)90th percentile-3 vs school

Hispanic (2025)89th percentile~ school

Female (2025)89th percentile-3 vs school

Special Education (2025)89th percentile-3 vs school

Military Connected (2025)86th percentile-6 vs school

White (2025)84th percentile-7 vs school

Disabled (2022)84th percentile-9 vs school

Asian (2025)74th percentile-17 vs school

Multi-racial (2025)70th percentile-21 vs school

By subject vs California (2024-2025) ?

English Language Arts/Literacy71%+23 vs state

Mathematics65%+28 vs state

Science55%+23 vs state

2.0

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What people are saying

by a parent
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

There are wonderful teachers, administration and staff at AVMS. It pains me to say that it’s unfortunate that there is some staff there that makes it so bad there that I would never recommend this school to anyone. AVMS has found away to get around sex education laws by hiding behind a teacher run school club that meets at lunch, the district supports this corrupt behavior. They hide behind the GSA label as if that makes it ok to teach children mature sexual subjects without parent’s permission. Absolutely the creepiest thing I have ever experienced in a school setting. Please don’t get a false sense of security that you are being notified regarding sex education that is required by the state, this is a different class. This school will HIDE inappropriate discussions they have with your kids, (the school has other lunchtime things in the works) you are being forewarned PLEASE take it seriously for the sake of your child Close Quote

Schools Near Aliso Viejo Middle

Choose columns to see: Summary School Students/Teachers Ranking Test Scores Finance All

School													Students/Teachers											Ranking (2025)				Ranking (2024)				CAST Science (2025)		Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy (2025)				Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics (2025)				Per Pupil Expenditures (2024)
Name	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	Enrollment	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Average Standard Score (2025)	Statewide Rank (2025)	State Percentile (2025)	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Statewide Rank (2024)	State Percentile (2024)	Rank Change from Previous Year	CAST Science 8th Grade	CAST Science All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy All Grades	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 6th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 7th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics 8th Grade	Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics All Grades	Per Pupil Expenditures Total	Sub-total from Federal Funds	Sub-total from State/Local Funds
Aliso Viejo Middle	Public	6-8	111 Park Ave.	Aliso Viejo	92656	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 831-2622	803	36	22.3	35.4%	433 (53.9%)	16 (2.0%)	154 (19.2%)	109 (13.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (0.5%)	87 (10.8%)	91.6	233^rd of 2761 public middle schools	91.6%		93.1	208^th of 2783 public middle schools	92.5%	25	55.2	55.2	70.5	70.7	72.9	71.4	62.7	65.2	66.8	65.0	$19,508	$1,401	$18,107
Don Juan Avila Middle	Public	6-8	26278 Wood Canyon Dr.	Aliso Viejo	92656	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 362-0348	863	36	24.1	29.7%	394 (45.7%)	14 (1.6%)	195 (22.6%)	171 (19.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.1%)	88 (10.2%)	93.1	197^th of 2761 public middle schools	92.9%		96.4	109^th of 2783 public middle schools	96.1%	88	69.2	69.2	67.6	71.9	78.9	73.1	60.8	65.5	71.4	66.1	$18,500	$1,379	$17,121
Los Alisos Intermediate	Public	7-8	25171 Moor Ave.	Mission Viejo	92691	Orange County	Saddleback Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 830-9700	595	29	20.5	74.5%	93 (15.6%)	2 (0.3%)	429 (72.1%)	47 (7.9%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (3.5%)	52.8	1104^th of 2761 public middle schools	60.0%		53.1	1066^th of 2783 public middle schools	61.7%	38	33.0	33.0		48.4	40.1	44.3		41.5	31.9	36.7	$19,306	$1,735	$17,571
La Paz Intermediate	Public	7-8	25151 Pradera Dr.	Mission Viejo	92691	Orange County	Saddleback Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 830-1720	713	33	21.8	39.7%	310 (43.5%)	7 (1.0%)	223 (31.3%)	89 (12.5%)	1 (0.1%)	0 (0.0%)	82 (11.5%)	90.2	274^th of 2761 public middle schools	90.1%		90.8	261^st of 2783 public middle schools	90.6%	13	57.1	57.1		75.4	64.1	69.5		70.4	55.7	62.8	$19,045	$1,362	$17,683
Niguel Hills Middle	Public	6-8	29070 Shark Bay	Laguna Niguel	92677	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5360	693	35	19.5	44.6%	384 (55.4%)	8 (1.2%)	212 (30.6%)	36 (5.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	53 (7.6%)	87.6	318^th of 2761 public middle schools	88.5%		92.4	219^th of 2783 public middle schools	92.1%	99	50.3	50.3	72.3	65.5	71.8	69.6	61.3	52.2	61.1	57.9	$20,684	$1,423	$19,261
Carl Hankey Middle	Public	6-8	27252 Nubles	Mission Viejo	92692	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 234-5315	181	12	15.6	49.7%	69 (38.1%)	3 (1.7%)	75 (41.4%)	18 (9.9%)	2 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (7.7%)	86.9	338^th of 2761 public middle schools	87.8%		79.1	499^th of 2783 public middle schools	82.1%	161	51.7	51.7	69.1	73.7	65.5	69.4	73.2	44.8	57.9	58.5	$24,837	$1,745	$23,092
Oxford Preparatory Academy - Middle	Public, Charter	6-8	22882 Loumont Dr.	Lake Forest	92630	Orange County	Oxford Preparatory Academy - Middle District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 600-9050	495	22	22.6	18.4%	172 (34.7%)	12 (2.4%)	100 (20.2%)	152 (30.7%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (11.7%)	95.2	150^th of 2761 public middle schools	94.6%		95.2	147^th of 2783 public middle schools	94.7%	3	67.7	67.7	77.0	84.0	79.0	80.0	67.3	65.4	62.9	65.2
Thurston Middle	Public	6-8	2100 Park Ave.	Laguna Beach	92651	Orange County	Laguna Beach Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 497-7785	524	31	16.6	17.7%	369 (70.4%)	6 (1.1%)	65 (12.4%)	29 (5.5%)	2 (0.4%)	1 (0.2%)	52 (9.9%)	96	115^th of 2761 public middle schools	95.8%		94.2	177^th of 2783 public middle schools	93.6%	62	70.2	70.2	74.0	77.2	78.8	76.7	72.0	74.9	77.1	74.7	$34,384	$1,134	$33,250
Fred Newhart Middle	Public	6-8	25001 Veterans Way	Mission Viejo	92692	Orange County	Capistrano Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 855-0162	1,105	51	21.6	33.6%	466 (42.2%)	16 (1.4%)	295 (26.7%)	150 (13.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.2%)	174 (15.7%)	94.5	168^th of 2761 public middle schools	93.9%		94.6	167^th of 2783 public middle schools	94.0%	1	59.3	59.3	75.0	78.0	78.8	77.2	69.4	63.9	70.8	67.9	$19,113	$1,344	$17,769
Serrano Intermediate	Public	7-8	24642 Jeronimo Rd.	Lake Forest	92630	Orange County	Saddleback Valley Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(949) 586-3221	868	39	22.3	48.7%	272 (31.3%)	16 (1.8%)	391 (45.0%)	108 (12.4%)	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.2%)	78 (9.0%)	75.3	578^th of 2761 public middle schools	79.1%		79.1	501^st of 2783 public middle schools	82.0%	77	49.5	49.5		55.0	58.4	56.6		48.8	46.0	47.4	$19,308	$1,376	$17,932

Frequently Asked Questions about Aliso Viejo Middle

How many students attend Aliso Viejo Middle?

In the 2024-25 school year, 803 students attended Aliso Viejo Middle.

Is Aliso Viejo Middle a good school?

Yes. Aliso Viejo Middle ranks in the top 8.4% of California middle schools.

What high school do graduates of Aliso Viejo Middle attend?

Students who attend Aliso Viejo Middle usually go on to attend Aliso Niguel High

What is the racial makeup of Aliso Viejo Middle?

Students at Aliso Viejo Middle are 54% White, 19% Hispanic, 14% Asian, 11% Two or more races, 2% African American.

What district is Aliso Viejo Middle in?

Capistrano Unified

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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.