Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 93636

Zip code 93636 has one middle school, Ranchos Middle, serving grades 7–8 with 452 students, and its clearest strength is ELA, where its latest result was 15 percentage points above the state.

Because it is the only school in the area, there are no local school-to-school leaders or laggards to compare; against state results, however, ELA and math stand out positively, while science is the weaker result. In 2025–2026, Ranchos had 64% proficiency in ELA, 43% in math and 34% in science, compared with state results of 49%, 38% and 36%, respectively. That puts the school 15 points above the state in ELA and 5 points above in math, but 2 points below in science; compared with Golden Valley Unified, Ranchos was 6 points higher in ELA and 1 point higher in math, but 4 points lower in science. The ELA and math advantages also appeared in both grades: grade 7 was 14 points above state ELA and 4 points above state math, while grade 8 was 13 points above state ELA and 8 points above state math. As the only school in the list, Ranchos cannot be compared with similar local schools.

Results moved in different directions over the two years reported: Ranchos ELA fell by 1 point, math rose by 1 point and science rose by 2 points. Its state advantage narrowed in ELA, from 16 points to 15, roughly held in math at 5 points, and its science shortfall widened from 1 point to 2. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile for Ranchos also declined, from 84 in 2023–2024 to 76 in 2024–2025 and 74 in 2025–2026; this ranking trend is distinct from the subject test-score changes. Other context includes a student–teacher ratio of 23 and 37% free/reduced lunch eligible in school year 2024–2025. In 2025–2026, chronic absenteeism was 14%, compared with 18% statewide and 13% in the district.