Summary:
Zip code 92234 has two middle schools in Cathedral City, both serving grades 6–8 in Palm Springs Unified: James Workman Middle enrolls 1,020 students, and Nellie N. Coffman Middle enrolls 914. Across the two schools, average 2025–2026 proficiency was 37% in English language arts, 22% in math, and 19% in science, compared with state rates of 49%, 38%, and 36%. The central finding is that Workman leads in every subject, but neither school reaches the state proficiency rate in any subject.
James Workman stands out at the top of this comparison, with 42% proficient in English, 28% in math, and 20% in science; Coffman recorded 32%, 16%, and 18%. Workman’s advantage was 10 percentage points in English, 12 in math, and 2 in science. Workman was closest to the state in English, still 7 points below, while Coffman’s largest state gap was 23 points in math. SchoolDigger also ranks Workman higher statewide: the 42nd percentile and 2 stars, compared with Coffman’s 20th percentile and 1 star.
Results fell from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026 at both schools: Workman declined by about 1 point in English and math and 3 in science; Coffman fell by about 2 points in English and 1 in science, while math was nearly unchanged. Workman’s SchoolDigger percentile also slipped from 48 to 42, and Coffman’s from 27 to 20. Both schools report similar free/reduced lunch eligible figures for 2024–2025: 98% at Workman and 97% at Coffman. Workman’s student-teacher ratio is higher, at 21.8 compared with 19.9, and its enrollment is larger; these figures are context, not explanations for achievement differences. Workman leads within each grade in both English and math, while Coffman’s math proficiency is highest in grade 7.
Thank you for your feedback!