Colonel Mitchell Paige Middle, La Quinta CA

Original Research by School Decision on Colonel Mitchell Paige Middle

Colonel Mitchell Paige Middle serves grades six through eight in La Quinta, a primarily residential and resort-oriented desert city in the Coachella Valley. The school's enrollment is small, and a substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of White, Asian, and multiracial students. English learner status and special education enrollment data were not available.

The school's most recent state assessment results, from the 2024-25 school year, show consistent and substantial challenges across tested subjects. In English language arts, overall proficiency across the three grades is below the statewide midpoint. Math proficiency is notably lower, running at roughly one in eight students across the grades. Grade six showed slightly stronger performance in ELA than grades seven and eight, while math proficiency increased modestly from grade six to grade seven before declining in grade eight. Science proficiency at grade eight was also low. The school's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among Riverside County's school districts.

The school is part of Desert Sands Unified, which covers multiple central Coachella Valley communities. In March 2024, district voters approved a bond measure focused on repairing and modernizing aging school facilities through HVAC upgrades, shade structures, classroom and science lab modernization, and career-training facilities. The district extended an existing property tax rate through a future date to fund these improvements without raising tax rates; families relocating to the area should factor this long-term tax commitment into their property-cost analysis.

La Quinta itself is a car-dependent city with most residents relying on vehicles for daily errands, though a walkable Old Town district serves as the community's main gathering place with restaurants, shops, and a farmers' market. The city's housing market reflects its resort and residential character, with properties ranging across golf communities, gated developments, and luxury estates. Major employers are anchored in tourism and hospitality, with the school district itself serving as one of the area's larger employers. The city is currently undergoing significant development around the long-stalled SilverRock resort site, where new ownership has recently resumed planning after a prior developer's bankruptcy.

Parents considering Colonel Mitchell Paige should understand that the school's current test results show material gaps in student proficiency, particularly in mathematics. The school's small size and community context are what they appear to be; a parent may want to look into further detail with the school about instructional approaches, support services, and the trajectory of recent improvements as the bond-funded facility upgrades begin.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 26% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 714%

School 14% · District 25% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 20% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 37% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 40% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 35% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 21%

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

Social studies

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 50% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

This schoolDesert Sands 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 6Lower-income28%Higher-income50%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income31%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income50%21 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income6%Higher-income23%17 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income14%Higher-income15%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income11%Higher-income23%13 pp gap