Creative Performing and Media Arts, San Diego CA

Original Research by School Decision on Creative Performing and Media Arts

Creative Performing and Media Arts is a public middle school in San Diego serving grades six through eight. It sits in a solidly working to middle-class San Diego neighborhood, with housing values in the range typical for that part of the city and moderate rents. The school's name signals its curricular focus, though detailed program descriptions were not available in the source material.

The student body reflects the wider San Diego County demographics. Most students are Hispanic, with substantial populations of white, Black, and Asian students. A strong majority of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a community with lower household income. The enrollment stands at around seven hundred students across the three grades, split relatively evenly among them.

On state assessments, the school's results show uneven performance across subjects. In English language arts, students are meeting proficiency at rates in the low-to-mid range: sixth grade proficiency is in the low forties, seventh grade slightly higher, and eighth grade in the mid-thirties. Math proficiency is substantially lower across all three grades, ranging from the high teens in sixth grade down to the mid-teens in eighth grade. Eighth grade science proficiency is also in the low teens. These results are below the midpoint among the county's forty-two schools with comparable data. A parent may want to look into this further with the school directly, especially if math is a primary concern.

The school operates under San Diego Unified, a large urban district that has made several pedagogy and policy changes affecting families. The district adopted standards-based grading at the secondary level beginning in the 2021-22 school year, which bases academic grades on demonstrated mastery of standards, removes non-academic factors like late work from academic grades, and allows students opportunities to reassess. This shift has direct implications for how students are evaluated. The district also approved a major facilities bond for repairs, renovations, new construction, security upgrades, and classroom technology. For high school students, the district made Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement.

The school's strengths and constraints come down to what the data shows. Math and science instruction appear to be areas where performance lags and where a family would want to understand what targeted support or intervention looks approach takes. The English language arts results, while still below the county midpoint, show somewhat stronger achievement. The school serves a high-poverty student population, which often reflects resource and staffing challenges in urban districts, though data on staffing, specific support services, and programs available to address gaps was not provided. A family considering this school should seek out information directly from the school about how it approaches math and science instruction, what tutoring or extra support is available, and what the school's specific academic priorities are.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 44% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 43% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 41% · ▼ 26 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 639%

School 39% · District 55% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 57% · ▼ 15 pts below district

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

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 55% · ▼ 21 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 816%

School 16% · District 39% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 57% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below 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-income36%Higher-income51%16 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income62%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income31%Higher-income46%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income18%Higher-income35%18 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income33%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income14%Higher-income19%5 pp gap