Riverside Stem Academy, Riverside CA

Original Research by School Decision on Riverside Stem Academy

Riverside STEM Academy is a public school serving grades five through twelve in Riverside. The school enrolls a mixed and diverse student body, with roughly two-fifths Hispanic, one-quarter Asian, and one-quarter white. The enrollment is small, spanning from a fifth-grade cohort down to two smaller high school grades, giving the school a compact, manageable size across its eight-grade span.

The school's name signals a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and that focus shows in its state assessment results. Math proficiency across the tested middle grades ranges from around three-fifths in seventh grade to above five-sixths in eighth grade. English language arts performance is stronger, particularly in fifth and eighth grades, where proficiency is near to above four-fifths. Science proficiency, tested in fifth and eighth grades, is similarly solid, in the high seventy-percentage range. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, Riverside STEM Academy sits in the top quarter among districts in Riverside County. This is genuine strength.

A parent should know that there is a notable dip in math proficiency in seventh grade relative to adjacent grades. Whether this reflects a particular curriculum feature, transition challenges, or something else would be worth asking the school directly. English and science hold more consistently across middle grades, so the seventh-grade math pattern stands out.

The school serves a modest share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, around one-quarter, below the rate in many other districts. State data on special populations such as English learners or students receiving special education services was not available, so a parent would want to ask the school about those populations directly.

Riverside Unified, the parent district, has been investing in new instructional coaching to help teachers identify and remove learning barriers more quickly. The district has also kept in place an ethnic studies graduation requirement that was locally adopted before California mandated it statewide, which shapes the high school course pathway. A major Measure O bond passed by local voters is funding school facility upgrades and a new STEM Education Center, though a state audit found the district delivered fewer projects than initially planned due to rising costs, a detail worth monitoring if construction timelines matter to your family.

The school occupies a zip code where median home values are comparable to state norms, with rent and mortgage costs reflecting broader market pressures in Southern California. The local unemployment rate is stable and moderate.

Riverside STEM Academy appears to be a solid performing middle and high school with a deliberate STEM focus and strong results in the tested core subjects. The school's size and composition, and whether its STEM emphasis aligns with your child's interests, are the natural next questions to explore directly with the school.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 48 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

2,394 schools plotted. 142 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 33% · ▲ 45 pts above district

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 53 pts above county median

Grade 675%

School 75% · District 32% · ▲ 43 pts above district

▲ 45 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 33% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 886%

School 86% · District 31% · ▲ 55 pts above district

▲ 58 pts above state median · ▲ 63 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 589%

School 89% · District 46% · ▲ 44 pts above district

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

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 48% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 49% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 889%

School 89% · District 47% · ▲ 42 pts above district

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

Science

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 31% · ▲ 47 pts above district

▲ 50 pts above state median · ▲ 55 pts above county median

Grade 877%

School 77% · District 30% · ▲ 47 pts above district

▲ 51 pts above state median · ▲ 52 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 888%

School 88% · District 58% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

This schoolRiverside 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 5Lower-income86%Higher-income94%8 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income61%Higher-income85%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income65%Higher-income88%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income82%Higher-income96%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income69%Higher-income88%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income67%Higher-income91%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income48%Higher-income80%32 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income82%Higher-income90%8 pp gap