Needles Middle, Needles CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Needles Middle

Needles Middle serves grades six through eight in a small Mojave Desert city where economic recovery and housing scarcity are reshaping daily life. The school enrolls a small cohort of about two hundred students, a quarter of whom are white, a third Hispanic, and a notable share Native American, with a substantial majority qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

The academic picture is one of low overall proficiency. Across the school, only about one in four students tested met grade-level standards in English language arts, and the math results are more concerning, with roughly one in eight proficient. Grade six math proficiency sits below one in ten; grade seven shows the strongest performance but still falls well short of state benchmarks; grade eight drops back near the sixth-grade floor. English language arts varies by grade, with seventh grade at roughly two in five proficient, whereas sixth and eighth grades fall to around one in five. Science proficiency for eighth grade sits at roughly one in four. Overall, Needles Middle ranks in the bottom quartile when compared against the tested schools in San Bernardino County's eighty-six districts.

These proficiency rates are the full picture available from recent state assessments. Data on English learner enrollment, special education identification, chronic absenteeism, and discipline were not provided. The school's website and current district information did not surface recent strategic initiatives, staffing changes, or program expansions.

Needles itself is a small desert town anchored by the BNSF Railway, which has employed residents for over a century, and by a resurgent cannabis-driven economy that has begun to stabilize the community after years of post-recession decline. The city's median home value sits modestly below the state benchmark. Housing was recently designated a development priority, with the city adopting its first housing element in years and planning downtown rezoning to add mixed-use development. A new affordable housing project has been approved and is in progress. Public transit consists of a small deviated fixed-route bus system with Dial-a-Ride service, serving roughly ten thousand riders annually. The Needles Unified School District itself is unusually large geographically, covering thousands of square miles with seven school sites spread across town and outlying areas, making the district one of the largest by area in the contiguous United States.

A parent or resident looking at Needles Middle should understand that the school serves a community in economic transition, with a high-poverty student body, and that state proficiency results show substantial academic challenges across grade levels and subject areas. The school's capacity to support these students' learning, and any targeted interventions or programs the school has put in place, would be worth discussing directly with the school, as that information was not available in public records reviewed here.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 17% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 89%

School 9% · District 12% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 621%

School 21% · District 26% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

Grade 737%

School 37% · District 38% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 21%

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

Science

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 23%

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

Social studies

Grade 835%

School 35% · District 35%

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

This schoolNeedles 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-income32%Higher-income62%30 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income18%Higher-income27%9 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income11%Higher-income46%35 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income7%Higher-income13%6 pp gap