Thornton Middle, Fremont CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Thornton Middle

Thornton Middle serves grades 6 through 8 in Fremont, a large, predominantly residential Silicon Valley city that evolved from five historic townships. The school enrolls a student body that is the substantial majority Asian, with smaller shares of Hispanic, White, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Black, and multiracial students. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. State assessment data for the most recent year show solid proficiency across tested subjects and grades. In English language arts, students across all three grades meet proficiency at rates in the high seventy-range, with eighth grade at the upper end. Math proficiency tracks slightly below ELA, with sixth grade strongest, seventh grade slightly lower, and eighth grade recovering to near sixth-grade levels. Science proficiency at eighth grade sits in the mid-sixties, the softest area of demonstrated performance. Overall, Thornton's proficiency index places it in the top quartile among districts across Alameda County on the subjects and grades where comparable data exist.

The school is sized at just under two thousand students, distributed nearly evenly across the three middle grades. This is a full-sized middle school for its grade band, neither particularly small nor large. The neighborhood context is solidly suburban; Fremont is car-oriented overall, though the Centerville area where Thornton sits contains a mix of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments. Housing values in the area are elevated, reflecting the broader Bay Area market, though recent years have seen modest softening. The area is served by both BART stations and local bus routes.

The school operates within Fremont Unified, a district that has undertaken two significant recent changes parents should be aware of. Voters approved a major general obligation bond in November 2024 to repair and modernize aging facilities, which will fund classroom, lab, roof, and HVAC upgrades; this bond carries a property tax component that will affect homeowners in the district for the life of the bond. Separately, the district's earlier parcel tax expired in June 2025, eliminating a dedicated local revenue stream that had supported operations and staffing. The district also advanced changes to its grades 6-12 math pathways for 2025-26, broadening access to advanced courses through compressed pathways and support classes; this shift drew active parent debate around balancing accessibility with academic rigor.

A parent may want to look into the school's science offerings further with the school, given that eighth-grade proficiency on the state science test sits below the English language arts and math results. Data on English learner enrollment and special education support at the school were not available, so a parent with a student in either category would want to ask the school directly about services and placement practices. The school's website or front office can clarify program breadth, course selection at the middle school level, and how the district's new math pathways will affect Thornton students entering sixth grade.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 675%

School 75% · District 70% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

Grade 773%

School 73% · District 69% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 66% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 48 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 678%

School 78% · District 74% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 779%

School 79% · District 76% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 76% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Science

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 60% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 35 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 72% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

This schoolFremont 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-income55%Higher-income85%30 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income87%37 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income61%Higher-income87%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income84%38 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income84%47 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income55%Higher-income84%29 pp gap