Pershing Middle, San Diego CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Pershing Middle

Pershing Middle serves grades six through eight in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, a residential area with housing values in the upper-middle to high range. The school has an enrollment of roughly eight hundred students, with the sixth-grade class notably larger than the two upper grades. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is roughly evenly split between white students and Hispanic students, with smaller shares of Asian, multiracial, and Black students, and very small populations of other groups.

In English language arts, Pershing's proficiency rates sit in the mid-range across the three grades tested. Sixth graders show the strongest performance, while proficiency drops in the eighth grade. The school's reading and writing instruction appears to have a foundation, but there is room for growth, particularly in the upper grade band. Math proficiency is lower than ELA across all three grades and declines as students progress through middle school, with eighth-grade math showing noticeably weaker results. This pattern of declining math proficiency at the high end of middle school is common in many schools and warrants attention to student support in that transition. Science proficiency, tested only in eighth grade, is the lowest-performing area and suggests the school may benefit from additional resources or instructional support in that subject. For context within San Diego County's districts and schools, Pershing's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile, meaning the school's combined performance across tested areas ranks above the median among comparable county schools.

The school sits within San Diego Unified, the county's largest district, which has made several district-wide changes in recent years. The district overhauled its secondary grading system starting in the 2021-22 school year, moving to standards-based grading that measures mastery of content standards rather than classroom behavior or punctuality, and giving students chances to revise and reassess. This means a student's grade at Pershing reflects what they know, separated from citizenship conduct. The district also approved a substantial facilities bond that extends the current property-tax rate to support building repairs, renovations, new construction, security upgrades, and classroom technology over the long term. For families with older children, San Diego Unified made ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement beginning with the Class of 2024.

Data on school attendance, chronic absenteeism, discipline practices, and special education and English learner enrollment were not available, limiting a fuller picture of student support systems and school climate. No information on school website or specific course offerings at Pershing was available. A parent interested in understanding the school's approach to intervention, support services, or specialized programs would benefit from reaching out directly to the school.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 44% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 43% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 41% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 55% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 57% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 55%

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

Science

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 39% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 57% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

This schoolSan Diego 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-income60%Higher-income74%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income56%Higher-income76%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income46%Higher-income60%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income44%Higher-income62%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income64%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income56%15 pp gap