Altimira Middle, Sonoma CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Altimira Middle

Altimira Middle School serves grades six through eight in Sonoma, a historic wine-country town centered on a walkable plaza. The school sits on a separated campus rather than in the downtown core, and draws its enrollment primarily from the surrounding valley community.

The school is currently mid-transition. Adele Harrison Middle School was consolidated into Altimira at the end of the 2024-25 school year, meaning the student body has recently grown to absorb that population. Sonoma Valley Unified is working through a multi-year consolidation plan driven by a long enrollment decline and fiscal pressures, so families should expect the attendance boundaries and school footprint to continue shifting. The district has already closed one elementary school and voted to close another at the end of 2025-26, with further changes likely.

On academics, state testing results from the 2024-25 school year show proficiency rates that are low across subjects. In English language arts, the school-wide proficiency rate is in the low range, though it rises markedly in eighth grade. In mathematics, proficiency is substantially lower and drops as students progress through the grade band. Eighth-grade science proficiency is also very low. The overall proficiency index places the school in the bottom quartile among districts in Sonoma County. These results suggest most students are not meeting grade-level standards in core subjects, and the school or families may want to explore what academic support structures are in place and what additional resources might address the gaps.

The student body is predominantly Hispanic, reflecting the demographics of the Sonoma Valley workforce and community. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of economic hardship in the families served. The enrollment is small for a middle school of its grade band. No data were available on the school's enrollment of students with disabilities or English learners, nor on discipline, attendance, or staffing.

Sonoma itself is a small, tourism-and-agriculture-based town with a strong sense of place centered on the historic eight-acre plaza. Housing costs in the area are high relative to regional and national benchmarks, and housing pressure is ongoing; the county faces a shortage of affordable units, and affordability has been cited by the district as a reason young families cannot stay in the area. Two significant housing projects are in development locally, but they remain early in construction or approval phases. The unemployment rate locally is modest, and median household income is above the national average, though that averages over a wide range of circumstances in a community that mixes agricultural workers, service workers, business owners, and retirees.

Parents considering this school should view it as a place in transition, where recent consolidation may create both challenges and opportunities as the new community forms. The low proficiency results warrant direct conversation with school leadership about how the school is supporting students in math especially, and what recovery or intervention pathways are available. The school's relatively small size and its position in a tight-knit town are characteristics that some families prefer; others may want more breadth of offerings or a larger peer group.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 620%

School 20% · District 15% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 715%

School 15% · District 23% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 13% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 626%

School 26% · District 36% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 34% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 38% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 86%

School 6% · District 16% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 42% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

This schoolSonoma Valley 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-income26%Higher-income27%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income19%Higher-income28%9 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income20%Higher-income55%36 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income15%Higher-income27%12 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income11%Higher-income21%10 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income5%Higher-income10%5 pp gap