Jefferson Middle, Torrance CA - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Jefferson Middle

Jefferson Middle sits in the western residential reaches of Torrance, a mid-sized coastal city anchored in Los Angeles County's South Bay. The city itself blends suburban neighborhood life with a substantial employment base drawn from aerospace, automotive, healthcare, and manufacturing firms. Housing costs here land well above both state and national medians, and rents run high enough that a meaningful share of income goes toward shelter for many households. Torrance is largely car-dependent outside its older downtown core, though the city operates its own municipal bus system and opened a new regional transit hub in 2023. For a family choosing where to settle, the South Bay's constrained land supply keeps inventory tight and prices stable even as new higher-density development moves through approvals citywide.

On academics, Jefferson's 2024-25 California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress results are solid. ELA proficiency rises across the grade span, from the sixth grade into eighth grade, with eighth graders performing strongest of the three cohorts. Math sits a bit lower than ELA across all three grades, with sixth graders outperforming seventh and eighth, though the differences are modest. Eighth-grade science proficiency on the state's California Science Test lands in a similar range to math. Taken together, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to districts in Los Angeles County, which spans more than four hundred districts. That is a meaningful position. Only one year of data was available for trend analysis, so whether these results represent a stable pattern or recent movement is not yet clear from the data.

The student body is genuinely diverse. Asian students make up the largest single group, followed by Hispanic students, white students, and students identifying as two or more races. Black students represent a smaller but present share. A little more than a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a relatively modest economic-need rate for a Los Angeles County school. Counts for English learners and students with IEPs were not available in the data provided; a parent whose child falls into either category may want to ask the school directly about services and caseloads.

Social studies data from the current assessment cycle was not provided; the only figure available comes from the older STAR assessment era and is too dated to carry weight here.

Jefferson is part of Torrance Unified, a district that has made a couple of moves worth knowing about. The district launched a Spanish-English Dual Language Immersion program, publicly reported as starting with the 2021-22 school year at the kindergarten level, with a pathway toward the State Seal of Biliteracy and early AP Spanish credit. Families outside the boundary schools can apply by transfer. That program is elementary-level, so it feeds into the middle school years as those cohorts advance, and families with younger children or those thinking about long arcs through the district may want to look into it. The district also refinanced a block of voter-approved general obligation bonds in late 2024, a move publicly reported to reduce the property-tax burden on district homeowners going forward.

No program offerings specific to Jefferson were available in the data. The school's website is the best place to look for electives, athletics, clubs, and any enrichment tracks. Discipline, attendance, and chronic absenteeism data were not included, so those dimensions of the school environment remain gaps here. Graduation rate does not apply because Jefferson serves only sixth through eighth grade.

For a family weighing middle school options in the South Bay, Jefferson offers academic results that stand above the county's midpoint by a clear margin, a racially mixed student body, and a setting in one of Los Angeles County's more economically stable cities. The housing market reflects that stability, with entry costs that rank among the highest in the state.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 669%

School 69% · District 63% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 60% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 56% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 67% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 772%

School 72% · District 69% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 65% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 30 pts above county median

Science

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 53% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 71% · ▼ 5 pts below district

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

This schoolTorrance 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-income51%Higher-income80%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income56%Higher-income79%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income64%Higher-income81%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income45%Higher-income81%36 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income46%Higher-income68%21 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income68%21 pp gap