Summary:
ZIP code 91024 has two Pasadena Unified schools: Sierra Madre Elementary serves grades K–5 and enrolls 652 students, while Sierra Madre Middle serves grades 6–8 and enrolls 597. In 2025–26, both schools posted All Grades proficiency above the state rate in English language arts (ELA), math and science. More importantly, every supplied grade-specific school result also exceeded its matching state rate, with advantages ranging from 6 to 31 percentage points.
Sierra Madre Elementary had the higher reported All Grades results: 69% in ELA, 68% in math and 66% in science, compared with 67%, 58% and 50% at Sierra Madre Middle. The differences were 2 points in ELA, 10 in math and 16 in science, but the schools serve different grades, so these totals are not a like-for-like ranking. The strongest grade-specific state advantage was elementary grade 5 math, at 68% proficient versus 37% statewide, a 31-point gap. The clearest relative weak spot was middle school grade 8 ELA: 56% versus 49% statewide, a 6-point advantage, narrower than the school’s grade 6 and 7 ELA gaps.
Proficiency declined from 2024–25 to 2025–26 at both schools in all three subjects; the two-school average fell 3 points in ELA, 1 point in math and 5 points in science, while state rates rose. The average school advantage over the state narrowed most in science, by 8 points. SchoolDigger’s percentile ranking also edged down over three years, from 91st to 89th for the elementary school and 90th to 86th for the middle school; both received four stars in 2025–26. Attendance is a positive indicator: chronic absenteeism was 7% at the elementary school and 11% at the middle school, below the district’s 21% and state’s 18%. For context, 2024–25 student-teacher ratios were 24.2 and 23.5, and the schools’ 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 30% and 39%, respectively.
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