Upland Junior High, Upland CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Upland Junior High

Upland Junior High serves the two grades of middle school, with an enrollment split roughly evenly between seventh and eighth grade. The school sits in Upland, a car-dependent residential city in San Bernardino County's foothills, where the local economy anchors in healthcare, education, and retail after the region's transition away from citrus. The downtown area is walkable and anchored by locally owned shops and restaurants, while the rest of the city requires a car for most errands. Housing here ranges from classic California bungalows to Spanish Colonial Revival homes on tree-lined streets, and the city is actively developing new residential units downtown and in the large master-planned Colonies at San Antonio community.

The school's academic profile shows substantial challenges across tested subjects. In mathematics, seventh-grade proficiency stands well below state norms, and eighth-grade math proficiency is even lower. English language arts results are less severe but still below state benchmarks at both grades, with seventh grade tracking ahead of eighth grade. Science proficiency in eighth grade is quite low. Placing the school's overall proficiency index among districts across San Bernardino County, Upland Junior High sits below the county midpoint. Math is the clearest pressure point: fewer than one in five students demonstrate proficiency by eighth grade. A parent may want to look into further detail with the school about math intervention strategies and how students struggling in that subject are supported.

The student population is predominantly Hispanic, with nearly all students drawn from families qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. This concentration of economic disadvantage is substantial and reflects the broader demographics of the city. The school is neither a magnet nor a charter; it functions as a regular public school in the Upland Unified district.

Upland Unified has restructured its elementary schools around themed academy identities—a Dual Language Immersion program, STEAM, Arts and Communication, Leadership, and Computer Science—giving families a choice-based model rather than purely assignment-based attendance. That structure does not yet extend to junior high, so Upland Junior High operates as a traditional comprehensive middle school without a specialty focus or academy designation. The district provides universal free meals to all students, a recurring cost relief for families. Looking ahead, the district is launching an early-college charter high school with embedded college credit in Fall 2026, which will offer a new pathway for students completing eighth grade at Upland Junior High.

State testing data and trend information from prior years were not available in sufficient depth to show whether proficiency is moving or stable, so a parent considering this school would benefit from asking the district directly about recent performance trajectory and any new initiatives aimed at mathematics gains in particular.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 722%

School 22% · District 38% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 32% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 741%

School 41% · District 53% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 830%

School 30% · District 48% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Science

Grade 810%

School 10% · District 30% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 58% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

This schoolUpland Unified, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income59%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income27%Higher-income64%37 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income27%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income10%Higher-income28%18 pp gap