Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 92154

Three middle schools in ZIP code 92154 serve grades 7–8: Montgomery Middle, Southwest Middle and Mar Vista Academy. In 2025–26, all three were below California’s proficiency rates in English language arts (ELA), math and science. Across the schools, average proficiency was 31% in ELA, 19% in math and 20% in science, compared with state rates of 49%, 38% and 36%, respectively. The biggest average gap was in math, at 20 percentage points; the science gap was 16 points and the ELA gap was 18. The most important takeaway is that even each subject’s local leader remained below the state rate.

Southwest Middle stands out in ELA and math, while Mar Vista Academy leads in science. Southwest reached 32% in ELA and 21% in math; Mar Vista had the lowest results in those subjects, at 30% and 15%, respectively. The leader-to-lowest spread was 2 points in ELA and 7 in math. In science, Mar Vista scored 25%, 8 points above Southwest, the lowest at 17%. SchoolDigger gives all three schools one star and ranks them in the statewide bottom quartile: Montgomery at the 22nd percentile, Southwest at the 24th and Mar Vista at the 21st.

Recent changes offer a mixed picture rather than one clear trend: from 2024–25 to 2025–26, the three-school average fell 3 percentage points in ELA, rose 2 points in math and rose 2 points in science. Only math moved closer to the state rate; Southwest’s math gain was 7 points, while Mar Vista’s fell 3 points. SchoolDigger’s three-year percentile history also differs by school: Montgomery fell from 35 to 22, Southwest stayed at 24, and Mar Vista moved from 26 to 21 after reaching 31. School characteristics do not point to a single best fit: 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible figures were 64% at Montgomery, 86% at Southwest and 60% at Mar Vista. Student-teacher ratios ranged from 18.0 at Mar Vista to 21.4 at Montgomery, and Mar Vista paired the lowest ratio with the strongest science but weakest math result.