Downtown College Preparatory Middle, San Jose CA

Original Research by School Decision on Downtown College Preparatory Middle

Downtown College Preparatory Middle is a charter school serving grades five through eight in San Jose. The school has a small enrollment concentrated in the middle grades, with the largest cohort in eighth grade. The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, and a large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a student population with significant economic need.

The most striking feature of this school's profile is its academic performance. State testing data from 2024-25 shows proficiency rates well below what would be expected at any grade level. In math, proficiency ranges from low single digits in seventh and eighth grade up to single digits in fifth grade. English language arts performance is somewhat higher but remains very low across all grades, peaking in fifth grade. Science proficiency is similarly weak at both grades tested. When compared against districts across Santa Clara County, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among the county's schools offering comparable grades.

These results suggest substantial academic challenges. A parent considering this school should want to understand directly from the school what academic supports are in place, how instruction is structured, and what the school's trajectory has been. The data provided does not include prior-year results that would show whether performance is stable, improving, or declining, so that conversation with school leadership would be important.

The school offers music as part of its arts curriculum. Beyond that and the school's college-preparatory mission signaled in its name, information about additional programs, support services, or distinctive instructional approaches was not available in the data provided.

San Jose itself is the largest city in Silicon Valley, with a downtown undergoing active redevelopment toward higher density, a patchwork of distinct residential neighborhoods ranging from tree-lined suburban areas to historic mixed-use districts, and a strong technology and professional services economy anchored by employers like Cisco. The city has walkable centers in downtown and a few older neighborhoods, though most of the city is car-dependent. The school is located at 1402 Monterey Highway in the 95110 zip code. Housing costs in that area are substantially above the state benchmark, and rents have been rising.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 59%

School 9% · district not reported

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 69%

School 9% · district not reported

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 77%

School 7% · district not reported

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 87%

School 7% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 526%

School 26% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Grade 617%

School 17% · district not reported

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 720%

School 20% · district not reported

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 823%

School 23% · district not reported

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Science

Grade 518%

School 18% · district not reported

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 86%

School 6% · district not reported

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 30 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 8Lower-income15%Higher-income47%32 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income9%Higher-income9%1 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income2%Higher-income20%18 pp gap