* based on state rankings
Earlier today, we ranked the top 10 public middle schools in Orange County based on the California Department
of Education's just-released Academic Performance Index (API) rankings.
Since Santa Ana Unified School District schools took up the bottom four rungs on the list of the bottom 10 public high schools, perhaps it is fitting that the district mirrors that, uh, distinction on the following list of the bottom 10 middle schools (in descending order).
To add misery to misery, more Santa Ana district schools made this list than the high school counterpart. And we haven't even got to the bottom elementary schools yet.
These rankings are based on statewide test scores. The Department of Education also
ranked schools based on the APIs of schools with similar demographics.
]
10.) Gerald P. Carr Intermediate, Santa Ana (703)
9.) McFadden Intermediate, Santa Ana (701)
8.) Valadez Middle School Academy, Placentia (700)
7.) Ball Junior High, Anaheim (699)
6.) South Junior High, Anaheim (691)
5.) Sycamore Junior High, Anaheim (678)
4.) Sierra Intermediate, Santa Ana (624)
3.) Spurgeon Intermediate, Santa Ana (612)
2.) Julia C. Lathrop Intermediate, Santa Ana (611)
1.) Willard Intermediate, Santa Ana (602)
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.