Standard Middle, Bakersfield CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Standard Middle

Standard Middle serves grades 6 through 8 in Bakersfield, a mid-sized city in Kern County that is among California's fastest-growing large cities. The school is part of Standard Elementary district, a small district in the Oildale area, which recently completed a major rebuilding of its elementary campus through a voter-approved bond and secured grant funding to shift toward a whole-child community schools model with integrated health, mental health, and family-support services.

Standard Middle's enrollment is moderate for a middle school, with roughly balanced grade cohorts across sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. The student body reflects Bakersfield's demographic composition, with close to half Hispanic and roughly half white students, along with smaller populations of Black students and other groups. A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating significant economic need across the school.

On state assessments in English language arts and mathematics, Standard Middle's proficiency results are low. In ELA across all grades, proficiency stands at around one-fifth of students. In math, proficiency is notably lower, at roughly one-tenth of students, with eighth grade showing particularly weak results. Science proficiency at eighth grade is also low. These results place the school in the bottom quartile when compared to other districts across Kern County on overall proficiency. A parent may want to look into the school's approach to instruction, tutoring supports, or intervention programs directly with administration to understand how the school is working to improve outcomes. The school does not report trend data over multiple years, so it is not possible to determine whether proficiency is rising, stable, or declining. State testing data for grades 6 and 7 science were not available, as California tests science only in grades 5 and 8 at the middle school level.

Bakersfield itself is a car-dependent city with a compact, walkable downtown core and extensive suburban neighborhoods spread across a flat grid. The area's economy rests on agriculture, energy, and healthcare. Housing in the 93308 zip code where Standard Middle is located is relatively affordable compared to California state and national benchmarks, with home values and rental costs below state medians, and a rent-to-income ratio suggesting housing is accessible to families earning at or near median household income. The city is adding housing and commercial development, with planned growth concentrated downtown and in southeast Bakersfield. The Kern River Parkway, a long ribbon of walking and cycling trails, runs along the city's eastern edge, and local transit is served by Golden Empire Transit.

Standard Middle is a regular public school, not a charter, magnet, or alternative program. It operates as part of a small district focused on serving its immediate community. Beyond the data presented here, information about staffing, course offerings, specific student supports, discipline practices, or school climate was not available.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 610%

School 10% · District 10%

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

Grade 714%

School 14% · District 14%

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

Grade 88%

School 8% · District 8%

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

English language arts

Grade 623%

School 23% · District 23%

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

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 23%

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

Grade 819%

School 19% · District 19%

▼ 25 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Science

Grade 815%

School 15% · District 15%

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

Social studies

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolStandard Elementary, 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-income23%Higher-income31%8 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income20%Higher-income42%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income19%Higher-income21%3 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income9%Higher-income23%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income13%Higher-income24%12 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income7%Higher-income15%8 pp gap