Blaker-kinser Junior High, Ceres CA

Original Research by School Decision on Blaker-kinser Junior High

Blaker-Kinser Junior High serves seventh and eighth grade students in Ceres, a Central Valley city south of Modesto in Stanislaus County. The school sits in a community with a strong agricultural heritage and family-oriented residential character, where most of the student body comes from economically modest backgrounds. A substantial share of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, reflecting the city's demographic makeup. The surrounding housing market is moderately priced compared to state benchmarks, and Ceres is actively growing with new residential subdivisions and infrastructure projects underway.

On state assessments in English language arts, the school shows proficiency that hovers near the midpoint. Seventh graders reach about the same level as eighth graders, though slightly higher. Math proficiency is notably lower across both grades, with fewer than one in five students meeting state standards. Science proficiency is also low. When the school's overall performance is measured across tested subjects and grades, it lands below the midpoint among districts in Stanislaus County. Without multi-year trend data, it is not possible to say whether proficiency has been moving up or down. State assessment results do not cover all content areas the school teaches, and parents may want to ask the school directly about performance in non-tested subjects and about local programs, supports, and initiatives beyond what appears in these assessments.

The school draws its enrollment from a modest geographic footprint in a junior high district context. At full enrollment it serves students from the immediate neighborhood and surrounding portions of Ceres. The peer environment is economically and ethnically coherent, with very little racial or ethnic diversity. Class sizes appear consistent with the school's overall enrollment divided into two grade cohorts.

Ceres Unified, the parent district, recently passed a significant bond measure to fund facility repairs and upgrades across its schools, including safety, climate control, roof work, and technology. This is being funded through a new property-tax assessment that will remain in place for about a generation, a long-term commitment affecting any family's housing calculation in the area. The district has also created a dual language pathway with bilingual academies at the elementary level, showing institutional investment in Spanish-English biliteracy for families who want that pathway.

The question for families is what kind of academic support and structure would help a student improve proficiency in math, which is the school's softest area. Parents may want to inquire about intervention programs, tutoring access, instructional materials and approaches, whether students are grouped or regrouped for math, and what resources the school deploys for students below grade level. This is a full-service junior high serving its neighborhood; there is no alternative school type or special program attached to this building. The school's role is as the middle-grade provider for this part of Ceres, and its academic trajectory depends on the instructional work that happens inside.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 18% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 42% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 42% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 22% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 51% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

This schoolCeres Unified, 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-income50%Higher-income50%0 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income43%Higher-income67%24 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income24%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income14%Higher-income27%14 pp gap