Cesar E. Chavez Middle, San Bernardino CA

Original Research by School Decision on Cesar E. Chavez Middle

Cesar E. Chavez Middle sits in San Bernardino, a city of mixed residential and commercial neighborhoods across the largest county in the United States. The school serves grades six through eight as a regular public middle school in the San Bernardino City Unified district, which has adopted Vision 2030, a strategic plan centered on college and career readiness, equity, and safe learning environments.

The school's academic performance shows clear strain, particularly in mathematics. Across the three grades tested, math proficiency reaches only a modest share of students in sixth grade, drops further in seventh grade, and falls to a low single-digit-like percentage in eighth grade. English language arts is stronger, with sixth graders showing proficiency rates around the midpoint, though proficiency declines notably in the upper grades. Science proficiency in eighth grade is similarly limited. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among middle schools in San Bernardino County, a positioning that reflects mixed rather than strong performance relative to the county's secondary institutions. A parent may want to look into what supports the school offers for students struggling with math, and what intervention structures exist for students falling below proficiency, particularly as they progress through the grade levels.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. This composition reflects the economic conditions of the immediate area and the broader San Bernardino context. The enrollment skews heavily toward seventh and eighth grades, with a much smaller sixth-grade cohort, a pattern that may affect class size and resource allocation by year.

San Bernardino itself is a diverse city with neighborhoods ranging from renter-heavy urban areas near downtown to tree-lined mid-century residential districts. The housing market sits at moderate affordability levels relative to state and national benchmarks. Downtown San Bernardino contains civic anchors including the library and historic post office and is experiencing planned mixed-use development. The city also hosts California State University San Bernardino and sits along major transportation corridors, giving the area both institutional presence and connectivity.

The school sits within a district that has made a lasting structural commitment to college and career pathways at the high school level through Linked Learning, which pairs academics with career-technical training and dual enrollment. While this framework applies primarily at the secondary level, the vision trickling down emphasizes preparing students for post-secondary success early. For a parent considering this school, the question is less whether Chavez Middle is high-performing in absolute terms and more whether the supports and momentum available in the district's secondary structure extend into the middle grades and whether the school has programs or partnerships in place to address the current gaps in foundational skills before students reach high school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 24% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 24% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 814%

School 14% · District 23% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 38% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 731%

School 31% · District 38% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 833%

School 33% · District 39% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 22% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 37% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

This schoolSan Bernardino City 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-income54%Higher-income71%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income28%Higher-income54%25 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income52%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income31%Higher-income36%5 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income53%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income11%Higher-income36%25 pp gap