Summary:
ZIP code 90026 has two listed middle schools, both serving grades 6–8; in 2024–2025, both were below state averages in ELA, math, and science. The clearest positive change in the area’s available results is Sal Castro Middle’s sharp improvement in math proficiency the following year.
The schools were nearly even in 2024–2025 ELA: Vista Charter Middle had 35% proficient and Sal Castro had 34%, a difference of less than one point. Sal Castro led in math, 21% to Vista’s 18%, and stood out most in science, with 31% proficient versus Vista’s 12%—a 19-point difference and just 2 points below the state. In 2025–2026, Sal Castro was close to state results in math (36% versus 38%) and science (33% versus 36%), but remained 14 points below the state in ELA (35% versus 49%). Its eighth-grade math result was a bright spot at 46%, 10 points above the state; seventh-grade math was 25%, 13 points below.
Sal Castro’s all-grades math proficiency rose 16 points, from 21% in 2024–2025 to 36% in 2025–2026, while the state increased 1 point; its math deficit narrowed by 15 points. Its SchoolDigger percentile rose from 12 in 2023–2024 to 48 in 2025–2026. Vista’s SchoolDigger percentile increased from 15 in 2022–2023 to 27 in 2024–2025, but the supplied results do not show a matching multi-year test-score trend for Vista. Context differs too: in 2024–2025, Vista had a higher student-teacher ratio (23.8 versus 14.2) and fewer students (364 versus 276), while Sal Castro had a higher share of students eligible for free/reduced lunch (98% versus 89%). These figures describe the schools; they do not explain their results.
Thank you for your feedback!