Alder Middle, Fontana CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Alder Middle

Alder Middle serves about six hundred fifty to one thousand students in grades six through eight in Fontana, a large, car-oriented city in the Inland Empire with a strong warehouse and logistics economy. The school sits in a community of young families and working households; roughly nine in ten of Alder's students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, and the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with the remainder spread across other groups. The school is a regular public middle school, part of Fontana Unified, which in late 2024 won voter approval for a school facilities bond funding classroom modernization and expanded career and technical education pathways.

Academic performance at Alder is well below proficiency benchmarks across tested subjects. In English language arts, Alder's students show gains with grade level, with sixth grade at the lower end and eighth grade noticeably stronger, but overall proficiency across the three grades sits below one-third. Math proficiency is even lower, hovering in the range of roughly one-fifth across all grades, with seventh grade slightly weaker than sixth or eighth. Science proficiency, tested only in eighth grade, is in the low teens. When compared against the middle and high schools in San Bernardino County, Alder's overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint. The school serves a student population marked by acute economic need and complex support requirements, making these results a marker of the instructional and resource challenges the school navigates rather than a simple measure of school quality.

Fontana itself is a rapidly growing city defined by its role as a distribution and manufacturing hub. Residential growth is concentrating in North Fontana, where newer homes sit near major freeways, and downtown, where the Forge District redevelopment is pushing mixed-use housing and commercial activity. The median housing value sits roughly in line with state benchmarks, though recent year-over-year movement has been modest and slightly downward. Median rent runs somewhat above what is typical, and affordability for renters is a real constraint given that housing costs consume a significant share of median household income. Employment centers on Kaiser Permanente, the school district itself, large logistics and distribution operations including Amazon and Target fulfillment centers, and manufacturing. The city has a Metrolink station downtown and regional bus service through Omnitrans, connecting to employment and services across the county.

Alder is located at the school site address on Alder Avenue, within the car-dependent suburban fabric typical of Fontana, where most daily travel by families depends on personal vehicle access. The community around the school is primarily residential, though the broader city's orientation toward industrial corridors and freeway proximity shapes daily life. A parent considering Alder should understand that the school serves a student body facing substantial economic hardship and likely language learning needs, that state test results show proficiency gaps that will require close attention to the school's instructional response, and that the district's recent bond approval signals investment in facilities and career education that may expand opportunity over time. The school data provided does not include information on attendance, discipline, staffing ratios, English learner percentages, or special education enrollment, so a parent may want to look into those details directly with the school or district to understand the full support and intervention picture.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 24% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 719%

School 19% · District 22% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 21%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 36% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 37% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 39% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Science

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 21% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 39% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

This schoolFontana 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-income26%Higher-income35%9 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income28%Higher-income35%7 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income38%Higher-income37%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income20%Higher-income42%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income18%Higher-income31%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income20%Higher-income26%6 pp gap