Summary:
ZIP code 92881 has one middle school, El Cerrito Middle, serving grades 6–8 and enrolling 1,218 students, so there is no local school-to-school comparison. Most importantly, in 2025–2026, the school’s all-grade proficiency was above the state in every reported subject: 65% in English language arts (ELA), 45% in math, and 48% in science, leading state results by 15, 7, and 12 percentage points, respectively.
Sixth grade is the strongest standout, while math is the school’s weakest area relative to the state. Sixth graders were 90% proficient in ELA and 79% in math—42 percentage points above state rates in both subjects. Results were lower in grades 7 and 8: ELA was 62% in grade 7 and 64% in grade 8, while math was 44% and 41%, respectively. The sixth-grade-to-lowest-grade spread was 28 points in ELA and 38 points in math. All-grade ELA and science also exceeded Corona-Norco Unified by 7 points each; math was just 1 point higher. Across all three subjects, math had the smallest advantage over the state.
El Cerrito remained above state proficiency from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, but its lead narrowed in each subject: school ELA fell by 1 point as the state rate rose, school math fell by 1 point as the state improved, and science rose by 2 points while the state rose more. SchoolDigger placed the school at the 79th percentile in 2025–2026, down 2 percentile points from the prior year but up 2 from 2023–2024. Chronic absenteeism was 13% in 2025–2026, compared with 14% districtwide and 18% statewide. Other context includes a student-teacher ratio of 26.5 in 2024–2025 and 63% free/reduced lunch eligible that year; these figures describe the school but do not show what drives its results.
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