Southeast Middle

Southeast Middle is a large public school serving 1,215 students in grades 6-8 within the Los Angeles Unified district in South Gate, a high-need community where nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

Academically, the school has historically struggled, ranking in the bottom quarter of California middle schools, with particularly low proficiency in mathematics at 15%. However, recent years show promising improvement: test scores in all subjects have risen since 2022, its statewide rank has improved, and chronic student absenteeism has dropped significantly from over 40% to 26.5%. The school also demonstrates relative strengths, performing better for its Hispanic students and students with special education needs than it does overall. It benefits from a lower student-teacher ratio than some nearby schools like Bunche Middle and per-student spending has increased substantially.

When compared to other local schools with similar student populations, opportunities for growth become clear. For example, South Gate Middle and Walnut Park Mid A School of Soc Just and Service Learning achieve higher academic results across English, math, and science. This suggests that Southeast Middle's challenges are not inevitable, and learning from these higher-performing peers could be beneficial. Key areas for focus include implementing stronger math support, especially for older grades where scores decline, and continuing to address chronic absenteeism, which remains above the state average.