Summary:
ZIP code 92236 has two middle schools in Coachella Valley Unified: Cahuilla Desert Academy Junior High and Bobby Duke Middle, both serving grades 7–8 and enrolling 668 and 648 students, respectively. In 2025–2026, the two-school averages were 37% proficient in English language arts (ELA), 19% in math, and 17% in science. Most importantly, neither school reached the state result in any subject; the area averages were 13 points lower in ELA, 19 in math, and 19 in science.
Cahuilla stands out as the local leader in all three subjects, while Bobby Duke is lower in each. Cahuilla had 42% proficiency in ELA, 23% in math, and 18% in science, compared with Bobby Duke’s 32%, 16%, and 16%—gaps of 10, 7, and 2 points. Cahuilla also led in both grades for ELA and math, with the largest grade-level gap in eighth-grade math: 12 points. SchoolDigger ranks Cahuilla at the 35th percentile with 2 stars and Bobby Duke at the 18th percentile with 1 star.
Both schools’ average results improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: 5 points in ELA, 3 in math, and 2 in science. The area narrowed its gap with the state in ELA and math, but science’s gap widened by 1 point because the state improved faster. Cahuilla’s strongest gain was ELA, up 8 points; Bobby Duke gained 6 points in math and 5 in science, though it started from lower scores. Enrollment and staffing ratios are similar: 20.1 students per teacher at Cahuilla and 20.9 at Bobby Duke. Both reported the measure “free/reduced lunch eligible” for 2024–2025: 84% at Cahuilla and 96% at Bobby Duke; California also provides free meals to all students, but those figures remain each school’s reported measure. In 2025–2026, chronic absenteeism was 30% at Cahuilla and 41% at Bobby Duke, compared with 18% statewide.
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