Sunrise Middle, San Jose CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Sunrise Middle

Sunrise Middle is a charter school serving grades five through eight in east San Jose. The school's enrollment is small, concentrated in a neighborhood where families face substantial economic constraints: most students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic with a smaller Asian population and very few white or multiracial students.

The school has made recent structural and curricular moves. It added fifth grade to its original six-through-eight span, allowing students to enter earlier, and introduced advanced math pathways with algebra and geometry classes. On the most recent state dashboard, the school placed in the yellow performance band for both English and math, reflecting measurable improvement from previously lower outcomes.

On the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, Sunrise's testing results are below state proficiency averages across tested grades and subjects. In math, proficiency across all tested grades falls in the low to mid range, with seventh grade showing the strongest performance. English language arts results are similarly low, though seventh grade again performs higher. Science proficiency is very weak; fifth grade achieved zero proficiency on the California Science Test, and eighth grade showed minimal proficiency. The data for fifth-grade English was suppressed, likely due to a small tested cohort. A parent may want to look into the school's specific science curriculum and instructional approach with leadership, since performance in that subject is particularly low.

The school sits in east San Jose, an area characterized by single-family neighborhoods built largely in earlier decades and substantial residential density. The broader city is a mixed environment: downtown and a few older commercial centers are walkable, but most neighborhoods are car-dependent. The region's economy is dominated by technology employers, with major companies including Cisco, Google, Apple, and Intel. Housing costs in the area remain elevated despite recent moderation, and rents have risen year over year. The labor market shows moderate unemployment.

Sunrise is positioned in the bottom quartile of schools in Santa Clara County when comparing overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. For families considering this school, the growth trajectory matters as much as the current numbers. The yellow dashboard placement signals upward momentum, the new math classes indicate a strategic push on academics, and the expansion to fifth grade shows institutional confidence. At the same time, the current proficiency levels are low, and science instruction is not yet serving students well. This is a school for families who value charter autonomy, a tight peer community, and the school's demonstrated willingness to improve, and who can actively engage in supporting their student's progress.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 525%

School 25% · district not reported

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 632%

School 32% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · district not reported

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

Grade 837%

School 37% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 625%

School 25% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · district not reported

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

Grade 832%

School 32% · district not reported

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Science

Grade 50%

School 0% · district not reported

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 817%

School 17% · district not reported

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

This schoolDistrict average, 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 6Lower-income25%Higher-income25%0 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income75%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income50%20 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income58%21 pp gap