The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in Social studies. The lowest is 31% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate
Manuel F. Cunha Intermediate sits on Church Street in downtown Half Moon Bay, a small coastal San Mateo County town roughly a half-hour's drive south of San Francisco. The school serves sixth through eighth grade and draws students from across the Coastside communities that Cabrillo Unified covers, including Moss Beach, Montara, and El Granada, whose elementary students all converge here before moving on to Half Moon Bay High School. That convergence means Cunha serves a noticeably larger and more diverse peer group than any single feeder elementary.
The student body reflects the community's demographic mix, with Hispanic students making up a clear majority and white students comprising most of the remainder. Nearly half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Cunha in a genuinely economically mixed setting rather than the affluent enclave its surrounding housing market might suggest. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not available in what we reviewed.
On California's CAASPP state assessments, Cunha's results for the most recent year show that roughly two-fifths of sixth graders reached proficiency in both English language arts and math, with proficiency rates in both subjects declining in seventh and eighth grade, and the eighth-grade math figure sitting noticeably lower than ELA. The eighth-grade science assessment showed about three in ten students proficient. Placed against districts in San Mateo County, Cunha's overall proficiency index falls in the bottom quartile of that comparison set. That is a gap worth naming plainly. A parent who wants to understand whether this reflects the school's instructional program, the composition of its student population, post-pandemic recovery, or some combination would be well served by asking the school directly for trend data and any targeted support strategies in place. Only one year of CAASPP data was available to us, so we cannot characterize whether results are improving, flat, or declining.
No information on program offerings, course access, chronic absenteeism, or discipline was available in the data we reviewed, so those dimensions of school life are gaps we cannot fill.
The surrounding community shapes the family experience considerably. Half Moon Bay is a genuinely small, walkable coastal town with an agricultural and maritime heritage. The library is close by, the school sits near the downtown core, and the beach is within easy walking distance of the neighborhood. What the town is not is affordable housing-wise. Home values in the area are dramatically above both the California and national medians, making entry-level homeownership extraordinarily difficult, and rent-to-income ratios are also strained. Families who own property here should know that voters approved two new measures in November 2024 that add to annual costs: a general obligation bond for facility improvements, repaid over decades through property tax bills, and a higher parcel tax to fund teacher salaries, STEAM programs, and college and career preparation. Both are publicly reported.
On the district side, Cabrillo Unified reached its first multi-year labor contracts in recent memory in early 2026, three-year agreements with both the teachers' and classified staff unions, publicly reported as a meaningful shift after years of labor tension that had come close to a strike. The district projects ongoing deficit spending, so financial sustainability bears watching, but the labor stability is a genuine change in direction for staff continuity.
Graduation rate and chronic absenteeism data were not applicable or available for this middle school. There are no AP or dual-credit programs at the middle school level, so those measures do not apply here.
Cunha is the sole middle school serving a geographically spread-out coastside district, which gives it a community anchor role that is worth understanding for families new to the area. The academic proficiency picture is below the county midpoint, and that is a fact families should weigh and ask about. The setting, peer convergence from multiple communities, and the town's accessible, small-scale character are qualities that will suit some families well and matter less to others.
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