Thomas Jefferson Middle, Wasco CA

Original Research by School Decision on Thomas Jefferson Middle

Thomas Jefferson Middle is a public middle school in Wasco serving grades six through eight in the Wasco Union Elementary district. The school draws from a working agricultural community roughly twenty-five miles northwest of Bakersfield, where single-family homes and apartment buildings dominate, and orchards and farmland surround the residential core. Most families in the school's catchment work in agriculture, corrections, or retail, and the local economy centers on farming with roses as a signature regional crop.

The student body is almost entirely Hispanic, and nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This reflects the economic base and demographic character of Wasco, where entry-level housing dominates and median family income is modest. The school serves roughly six hundred students split fairly evenly across its three grades.

On state testing in English language arts, about one-third of students score at or above proficiency across grades six through eight, a rate that holds steady across the grade band. Mathematics performance is weaker: proficiency rates hover around one in six students across the three grades. In science, about one in five eighth-graders reached proficiency. Data for earlier subjects and years were not available or were drawn from an older assessment no longer in use. When compared to other districts across Kern County, Thomas Jefferson's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint, a position that reflects solid standing within its county peer group even as absolute proficiency levels remain low.

The school's low proficiency rates merit direct attention. A parent may want to look into further with the school what supports exist for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks, what the district's strategic priorities are for academic improvement, and how the school structures instruction in math, where the performance gap is widest. The stark gap between English language arts and mathematics proficiency also warrants conversation about how the school addresses math instruction or whether particular barriers to math success are understood and being tackled.

No data were available on chronic absenteeism, attendance patterns, discipline, staffing ratios, course breadth, or special education and English learner enrollment rates. These attributes shape the day-to-day experience and would be worth exploring directly with the school.

The Wasco Union Elementary district itself sits in a period of infrastructure constraint. Voters rejected a facilities bond in 2020 that would have modernized classrooms and expanded recreational facilities, so the district relies on existing budgets for maintenance and upgrades. This is a lasting backdrop that families should understand when evaluating what physical plant and facilities improvements they might expect in coming years. Housing in Wasco is notably affordable by California standards, and new subdivisions have expanded the local market, though a shortage of larger move-up homes has caused some families to relocate to neighboring communities like Bakersfield and Shafter.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 616%

School 16% · District 20% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 15% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 19% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 42% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 34% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 832%

School 32% · District 35% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Science

Grade 820%

School 20% · District 18% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Social studies

Grade 853%

School 53% · District 53%

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

This schoolWasco Union 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-income32%Higher-income46%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income38%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income50%20 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income16%Higher-income14%2 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income16%Higher-income24%7 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income17%Higher-income25%8 pp gap