Sunnymead Middle, Moreno Valley CA

Original Research by School Decision on Sunnymead Middle

Sunnymead Middle serves sixth through eighth graders on Eucalyptus Avenue in Moreno Valley, a large Inland Empire city in Riverside County built around tract-home neighborhoods, logistics and distribution facilities, and a handful of major public institutions. The school is a regular public school within Moreno Valley Unified and is not a charter.

The student body is large for a middle school of its grade band. The overwhelming majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing Sunnymead firmly in the high-need tier. Hispanic students make up by far the largest share of enrollment, with smaller populations of Black, Asian, multiracial, and white students. Data on English learner rates and students served by IEPs were not available in what was provided.

State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year, measured by the CAASPP Smarter Balanced assessment, show proficiency rates that are low across all three grades in both English language arts and math. In ELA, the sixth-grade result is the strongest of the three grades, though still well below a majority of students; seventh grade is the lowest; and eighth grade falls between them. Math results are especially thin across the board, with single-digit or barely double-digit shares of students reaching proficiency in every grade. The eighth-grade science result on the CAST is similarly low. Placed against districts in Riverside County, Sunnymead's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile of the comparison set. Only one year of data was available, so trend direction cannot be determined. A social studies result from a state test administered more than a decade ago is in the data but reflects a very different assessment era and a different student population; it has no meaningful connection to current performance. Parents who want to understand how individual students are progressing and what the school is doing to close these gaps would want to ask the school directly, because the aggregate picture here is a real challenge that the numbers alone do not explain.

No information was available on course offerings, extracurricular programs, attendance patterns, chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing. Those gaps are worth asking the school about, particularly for families trying to understand what a student's daily experience would look like.

On the district side, voters in November 2024 approved Measure X, a general obligation bond measure aimed at modernizing school facilities and upgrading technology across Moreno Valley Unified. Publicly reported accounts confirm it passed and will be funded through a property-tax levy on assessed value while bonds are outstanding, which is relevant both to homeowners weighing their tax bill and to families thinking about what the district's physical and technological environment may look like in the years ahead.

Moreno Valley's housing market sits well below the California statewide median home value but above the national median, making it one of the more accessible entry points into Southern California homeownership. Values have been roughly flat year over year. Rents have ticked up slightly, and the rent-to-income ratio in the zip code is on the higher end nationally, meaning renters are spending a substantial share of income on housing. The city itself is car-dependent, with residents relying heavily on personal vehicles; walkability is low except in a few neighborhoods. A planned Town Center has been in development to create a civic and commercial core the city has historically lacked. Major employers include March Air Reserve Base, Riverside University Health System Medical Center, Amazon, and the school district itself, alongside a growing logistics and warehousing sector.

For a family considering Sunnymead Middle, the picture is one of a high-need school in a working-class, predominantly Latino community where academic proficiency rates are well below state norms. The school's standing within the county comparison set and the consistency of the pattern across grades and subjects make this something a parent should weigh carefully and investigate further with the school, rather than something that can be set aside.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 18% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 78%

School 8% · District 16% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 15% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 32% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 33% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 822%

School 22% · District 33% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Science

Grade 813%

School 13% · District 18% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 43% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

This schoolMoreno Valley 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-income24%Higher-income21%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income15%Higher-income40%25 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income23%Higher-income19%4 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income10%Higher-income0%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income8%Higher-income5%3 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income9%Higher-income0%9 pp gap