Buena Park Middle, Buena Park CA

Original Research by School Decision on Buena Park Middle

Buena Park Middle serves grades six through eight as a regular public school in the city of Buena Park, a mixed residential and commercial community in northwest Orange County anchored by tourist attractions including Knott's Berry Farm and entertainment zones along Beach Boulevard. The school draws its enrollment almost entirely from the immediate area, with a student body that is predominantly Hispanic, about a quarter of whom identify as Asian, and small shares of Black and white students. The vast majority of students come from households qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding neighborhoods of older single-family and multifamily housing built primarily in the mid-twentieth century.

On California's state assessments, Buena Park Middle's proficiency rates fall well below the county median across tested subjects and grade levels. In English language arts, the school shows the strongest performance of its core subjects, with proficiency approaching a third of the student body overall, climbing slightly from grade six to grade seven and eight. Mathematics proficiency is considerably lower, hovering around a fifth of students across the three grades, with the sixth grade showing the weakest attainment. Science proficiency on the state test administered to eighth graders sits at roughly a fifth of students, comparable to math. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school lands in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Orange County. Students should expect a learning environment in which most peers are working toward proficiency benchmarks, and families considering this school may want to look into how the school uses instructional time and support structures to address these gaps. The school's enrollment is stable and sized appropriately for a traditional neighborhood middle school serving the district.

Buena Park as a city is experiencing active real estate development and housing transitions, with major redevelopment projects underway in the downtown area and along Beach Boulevard introducing mixed-use housing. The community has a distinct Koreatown character centered around downtown and a concentration of employment in health care, manufacturing, and retail. Metrolink commuter rail service connects the city to the broader county and region. Housing values in the area have climbed in recent years, though they remain accessible compared to many other Orange County communities. The city is car-oriented by design, with transit and walkability scores below the national average outside the downtown core.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 34% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 721%

School 21% · District 34% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 26% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 41% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 736%

School 36% · District 48% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 46% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Science

Grade 822%

School 22% · District 29% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 868%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolBuena Park Elementary, 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-income34%Higher-income57%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income33%Higher-income68%36 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income41%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income16%Higher-income44%28 pp gap