The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in English language arts. The lowest is 17% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Foothill Middle
Foothill Middle, located on North Fenimore Avenue in Azusa, California, is listed in school records as a closed institution. It operated as a regular public middle school within Azusa Unified, serving seventh and eighth grades, and the most recent state assessment data available covers its final year of operation before the closure took effect.
The closure was part of a deliberate, district-wide consolidation. Azusa Unified faced sustained enrollment decline over roughly two decades, leaving its campuses operating well below capacity. The district's board ultimately decided to close Foothill Middle along with Slauson Middle and Center Middle School, publicly reported as part of a broader restructuring that also affected elementary schools and Gladstone High School. Students from all three middle schools were moved to a newly configured Gladstone Middle School, which opened on the former Gladstone High campus for the 2023-24 school year. The process was described by CalMatters as having proceeded with relatively little community disruption, in part because a planning committee of parents, union representatives, and administrators ran community meetings throughout. A family enrolling in Azusa Unified today would send a middle schooler to Gladstone Middle rather than Foothill.
The state assessment data on file reflects Foothill's last full testing cycle. In English language arts, roughly four in ten students across both tested grades scored at the proficient or above level on the Smarter Balanced assessment, which represents a meaningful share but still leaves the majority of students below that bar. In math, the picture was more challenging: seventh-grade results showed about one in five students proficient or above, and eighth-grade math results were lower still, with roughly one in eight students reaching that threshold. Science results at the eighth-grade level, measured by the California CAST assessment, were similarly limited, with fewer than one in five students scoring proficient or above. Parents wanting to understand how those numbers compared to California schools broadly or to specific peer schools should look into Azusa Unified directly, as grade-level comparison context was not available in the data provided. Demographic enrollment figures for Foothill were not available in the data.
Azusa itself sits at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains, roughly twenty miles east of downtown Los Angeles, within Los Angeles County. It is publicly described as a diverse city with a significant Hispanic and Latino population, a mix of single-family residential neighborhoods, a revitalizing downtown along Foothill Boulevard and Azusa Avenue, and an industrial and aerospace corridor on the city's west side anchored by a longstanding Northrop Grumman facility. Two Metro A Line light rail stations opened in recent years and are reshaping the downtown, where a mixed-use development including a cinema, residential units, and retail has added density. The city's employment base draws heavily on education, health care, and manufacturing sectors, with Azusa Pacific University and Citrus College as nearby higher-education anchors. The housing market in the zip code is well above national median home values and has seen meaningful rent appreciation recently, though it remains below the California state benchmark. Rents in the area consume a substantial share of median household income, a point worth weighing for families considering the community.
Because Foothill Middle is closed, the school itself is not an option for families today. Its assessment results from its last year of operation are the record it leaves behind.
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