United for Success Academy Middle, Oakland CA

Original Research by School Decision on United for Success Academy Middle

United for Success Academy Middle is a regular public middle school serving grades 6 through 8 in Oakland, located in the 94601 zip code. The school enrolls a small group of students, about evenly divided across the three grade levels. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander students, plus a small number of White and multiracial students.

State assessment results show proficiency levels that are well below the midpoint among the county's districts. In English language arts across all grades, proficiency sits in the bottom quartile relative to Alameda County schools. Math proficiency is even lower. In eighth-grade science, proficiency reaches only a very small percentage of students. When averaged across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it squarely in the bottom quartile of county schools.

The data available does not include information about the school's graduation rate, attendance, discipline patterns, course offerings, special education enrollment, English learner enrollment, staffing, or any district-level changes that might affect operations. These gaps reflect both the school's grade band (middle schools are not tracked for graduation) and limits in what was reported or accessible.

Oakland itself is a diverse, walkable city with a clear downtown core and distinct neighborhood character. Lake Merritt anchors the city center, and neighborhoods like Temescal, Rockridge, and Fruitvale offer walkable commercial districts. Transit is substantial: BART serves multiple stations, AC Transit runs an extensive bus network, and the waterfront connects to ferry service. Major employers include Kaiser Permanente, government, the Port of Oakland, and health care. Recently, market-rate housing construction has stalled while affordable housing projects have accelerated, with several large redevelopments underway including Brooklyn Basin on the shoreline.

For a family considering United for Success Academy Middle, the central reality is that proficiency outcomes are very low. A parent may want to look into further detail with the school about what literacy and numeracy support looks like in classroom practice, what specialized services or interventions the school offers, and how the school's particular approach or mission (reflected in its name, "United for Success") translates into daily work with students at these proficiency levels. The school's high concentration of economically disadvantaged students and the low proficiency across the board suggest a student population with substantial unmet academic needs. Understanding what the school is doing to close those gaps, and whether those efforts align with a family's expectations and resources, would be an important next step.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 21% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 77%

School 7% · District 25% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 811%

School 11% · District 21% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 615%

School 15% · District 30% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 35% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 34% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Science

Grade 84%

School 4% · District 21% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 30% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

This schoolOakland 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.