Charles W. Eliot Middle, Altadena CA

Original Research by School Decision on Charles W. Eliot Middle

Charles W. Eliot Middle School is a grades-six-through-eight campus in Altadena serving a student body of roughly four hundred. It operates within the Pasadena Unified School District, a system whose recent fiscal and structural instability now shapes the environment in which Eliot sits.

The most pressing reality is that Eliot's academic proficiency is very low. State testing data from the spring of 2025 shows that across all three grades, only about one in six students met proficiency in math, and roughly three in ten met proficiency in English language arts. Science proficiency in eighth grade reached one in seven students. These results place the school in the bottom quartile among districts in Los Angeles County on overall proficiency. A parent or student considering this school should recognize that this is a place struggling to deliver grade-level competency to most students. The school does have recent state assessment data, meaning it is currently testing and transparent about results.

The student population is economically stressed. About four in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is racially mixed, with more than half identifying as Latino, about a fifth as Black, and the remainder across Asian, white, and multiracial identities. Altadena itself is a diverse, working-class unincorporated community in the San Gabriel foothills north of Pasadena, where older single-family homes sit on larger lots and many residents commute to adjacent employment centers.

The broader district context matters. In January 2025, the Eaton Fire destroyed five schools across Pasadena Unified, including the Eliot Arts Magnet, which shared its Lake Avenue campus with Charles W. Eliot Middle. That magnet school relocated to McKinley in Pasadena; Charles W. Eliot Middle itself does not appear to have been destroyed, but the fire displaced thousands of students and damaged district infrastructure. Beyond the fire, the district faces a structural budget deficit. In November 2025, the board voted to cut substantial general-fund resources through elimination of librarians, teachers, and staff positions for 2026-27, with cuts reaching arts, science, and athletics programs. The district also pursued a school-consolidation process earlier in 2025-2026 but halted it in June 2026 after an advisory committee recommended against closures. Declining enrollment and expiration of pandemic-relief funding continue to pressure the system. Families considering Eliot should understand that the district is in active financial contraction and program reduction, which directly affects course offerings, staffing, and support services available to students.

Housing in the Altadena area is substantially more expensive than the state median, reflecting the proximity to Pasadena and the San Gabriel Mountains. Owner-occupied single-family homes predominate, and the community has a reputation for racial and economic integration, though the Eaton Fire has begun to reshape ownership patterns as corporate buyers acquire burned lots, raising concerns about equitable recovery in a historically diverse area with strong Black homeownership.

Altadena is unincorporated and lacks a dominant downtown, though the Lake Avenue and Lincoln Avenue corridors hold modest commercial and civic life. The Altadena Library District operates independently and serves the community. Walkability is moderate and uneven; areas near Lake and Altadena Drive score higher, while foothill neighborhoods are car-dependent. Public transit includes Metro bus routes and on-demand service, with the nearest light rail at Memorial Park Station in Pasadena. Employment for residents clusters in educational, health care, and professional services; many commute to Los Angeles and Pasadena.

Parents considering Charles W. Eliot Middle should look into the school directly regarding what academic supports, intervention programs, and staffing levels are currently in place, given both the low proficiency numbers and the ongoing district budget uncertainty. State testing data will be available at the school's profile page.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 34% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Grade 718%

School 18% · District 34% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 817%

School 17% · District 30% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 46% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 729%

School 29% · District 47% · ▼ 18 pts below district

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

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 41% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 29% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 36% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

This schoolPasadena 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-income28%Higher-income52%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income25%Higher-income39%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income23%Higher-income44%21 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income10%Higher-income24%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income22%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income17%Higher-income22%6 pp gap