Middle Schools in Whittier City Elementary

The Whittier City Elementary District in California is home to two middle schools: Katherine Edwards Mid School STEAM & Dual Immersion Academy and Walter F. Dexter Middle. Based on the available data, Katherine Edwards Mid School stands out as the higher-performing institution, consistently outpacing Walter F. Dexter Middle in academic assessments and overall school rankings.

Katherine Edwards Mid School STEAM & Dual Immersion Academy ranks 999 out of 2,777 California middle schools, significantly higher than Walter F. Dexter Middle's ranking of 1,899. This performance gap is reflected in the schools' Smarter Balanced Assessment results, where Katherine Edwards outperforms both the district and state averages in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics across all grade levels. Additionally, Katherine Edwards has higher proficiency rates in the CAST Science assessments compared to Walter F. Dexter Middle.

While both schools have a high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the chronic absenteeism rate at Walter F. Dexter Middle is notably higher at 30.8%, compared to 24.0% at Katherine Edwards. This disparity in attendance rates may be a contributing factor to the academic performance gap between the two schools. The district may benefit from exploring strategies to address chronic absenteeism and facilitate collaboration between the schools to share best practices, ultimately improving the overall educational outcomes for students in the Whittier City Elementary District.