Garvey/allen Visual & Performing Arts Academy for Stem, Moreno Valley CA

Original Research by School Decision on Garvey/allen Visual & Performing Arts Academy for Stem

Garvey/Allen Visual & Performing Arts Academy for STEM is a small charter middle school in Moreno Valley serving grades five through eight. The school draws its enrollment almost entirely from the immediate community, with a student body that is predominantly Black and economically disadvantaged, reflected in a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. The enrollment is modest for a middle school, concentrated at the sixth and seventh grade levels.

The school's name signals its curricular identity: the curriculum weaves together visual and performing arts alongside STEM content. This integration is the core pedagogical claim and differentiator. The school is a regular public charter, operating within the Moreno Valley Unified School District.

On state assessments, the school's results are notably low across tested subjects. In English language arts, proficiency ranges from about three in ten students meeting standards at the middle grades up to about six in ten in fifth grade, a pattern that suggests either declining proficiency with grade level or variation in student cohorts. Math proficiency is substantially lower, with fewer than one in four students meeting standards across all tested grades. Science results are comparably weak, with proficiency in the low-to-mid range. Overall proficiency, computed across all tested subjects and grades, places the school above the midpoint among districts in Riverside County, though that median bar is itself modest and reflects the broader regional context rather than strong absolute performance. These are areas where a parent may want to look further into the school's instructional approach and support systems.

Moreno Valley is a large, fully built-out suburban city in the Inland Empire, shaped by single-family tract housing, logistics and distribution facilities, and dispersed commercial nodes rather than a traditional downtown. The city is car-dependent, though it is pursuing a planned Town Center and maintains bus transit via the Riverside Transit Agency. Housing is actively traded, with new construction continuing and homes starting in the mid-range. The area's major employers span military and public-sector (March Air Reserve Base), healthcare, retail, and large logistics operations such as Amazon and regional distribution centers. The broader regional economy and job market are relatively resilient.

In November, voters approved a school district bond package intended to modernize facilities, upgrade science labs and career technology infrastructure, and improve technology systems across the district. That funding commitment will create a property-tax obligation for families in the district.

This school is most suitable for families drawn specifically to the integrated arts-and-STEM model and who want a small, community-rooted middle school. Parents should evaluate the school directly on its instructional supports and track record in closing proficiency gaps, particularly in mathematics, where performance is substantially below state proficiency benchmarks.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 524%

School 24% · district not reported

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 619%

School 19% · district not reported

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

Grade 720%

School 20% · district not reported

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

Grade 824%

School 24% · district not reported

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

English language arts

Grade 562%

School 62% · district not reported

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 642%

School 42% · district not reported

▼ 2 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 731%

School 31% · district not reported

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 846%

School 46% · district not reported

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 525%

School 25% · district not reported

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

Grade 831%

School 31% · district not reported

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above 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.