Sunrise Middle School 
Author Archives: Justin Roosenschoon
Another First Place!
The Sunrise boys soccer team won the league championship, 1-0 against KIPP.
This is the second first place trophy for the Aztecs.
Earlier, the boys basketball team won first place in the league.
Go Aztecs!
Sunrise Teacher Is Honored
Many congratulations to Ruben Guzman for being honored tonight as a recipient of the $2,000 Dr. Harry Edwards Follow Your Bliss award, given for the seventh year now by the 49ers Foundation and Micron Foundation.
Mr. Guzman was chosen for his dedication to youth, as well as his passion for equity and inclusivity, and his ability to incorporate social justice into math and other curriculum. He was one of about several Bay Area educators honored. In all, 39 have been honored over the last seven years.
Dr. Edwards, an activist and educator who has guided the 49ers for the past 40 years, is known for exposing racism in athletics, as well as his efforts to help all youth get a strong education.
“You’re unsung heroes,” Edwards told the audience. “You make your students the changemakers of tomorrow… Keep changing the world, one student at a time!”
Edwards said that educators are “almost invisible” as they “pick up the pieces after the COVID interruption,” and that the Follow Your Bliss award is meant to let all educators know “you are not invisible to us – we see you!”
An educator for eight years, Mr. Guzman was raised by a single mom in the Central Valley. He focuses on making learning relevant for his students and on incorporating events in the world today into his lessons. His 8th grade students currently are presenting projects on major themes of justice studied throughout the year.
Mr. Guzman said he plans to use the $2,000 he received tonight to give back to his students, to honor their art and to help them become involved in their community.
Here are some fun pictures from the evening!
Major Growth This Year!
Sunrise students grew nearly two years in one in both math and reading this year.
The students grew 189 percent in reading on their local iReady tests, and 179 percent in math.
First Place!
The boys basketball team won first place in the 7 Trees Community Center basketball league.
Earlier, they won a second place in the REACH league.
Interestingly, they thought the 7 Trees league was more challenging! The coach said it might have helped that they had time to rest up before this championship game.
Go Aztecs!
Congrats to Mr. Bo!
Alonso Guerrero was one of about 30 after school workers from four counties honored this morning at a California Expanded Learning Department “breakfast of champions” in Gilroy.
The state’s Region 5 awarded him an Excellence Award for his two years as our After School Director and Athletics Director.
Kudos also go to all our after school program staff – also, Renee, Alex, Luis, Helen, Joshua, Jose and Ivette.
Sunrise has one of the best attended after school programs in the state.
Specifically, Alonso, aka Mr. Bo, was honored for his work coordinating between teachers and after school instructors, organizing eight different teams throughout the year, working with parents and 8th graders on high school acceptance and coordinating other fun activities in the after school program. Mr. Bo started at Sunrise five years ago as a paraprofessional in the math classes.
Thank you, Alonso, and all the after school staff, for providing our youth with a nurturing second-home environment!
13th Anniversary!
Sunrise Middle School celebrated its 13th anniversary Friday night with the unveiling of two new murals for the school, depicting the Aztec tradition as well as the fiery force of the phoenix rising!
Student and alumni speakers, student performers and Banda Xclusiva added to the evening’s excitement.
The 13th year has also seen the highest English and Math test results for middle schools in central San Jose, as well as strong reading and math growth of about two years in just the past year. Also, three 2nd place wins in league sports – for futsal, boys basketball and girls soccer. A possible 1st on the way!
Go Aztecs!
Mid-Year Test Results Show Significant Progress
Mid-year test results for Sunrise Middle students showed significant progress in both English and Math. All but one class showed a year or more of growth in both English and Math in just the first five months of school.
Top scoring classes were:
- 5th grade, which showed 165% growth in English by mid-year.
- And, 7th grade, which showed 142% growth in Math by mid-year
Congratulations, Sunrise students, teachers and parents!
Sunrise outperforms other schools on state test
Sunrise Middle School outperformed other California schools with similar demographics on the state CAASPP tests last spring, the state of California reported today.
36.7% of Sunrise students scored proficient or higher in English, and 26.56% in math – compared to 31.91% in English and 19.09% in math statewide – for schools with low-income Latino populations. Students statewide, including from affluent schools, scored 46.66% proficient in English and 34.62% proficient in math.
Also – in another great achievement – nearly twice as many Sunrise students scored proficient on the state English Learner (ELPAC) exam as English Learners statewide: 31.34% as compared to 16.50%! Sunrise also scored much better on both exams (the CAASPP and the ELPAC) than nearly all of the other charter and district middle schools in downtown/East San Jose – in some cases twice as well. This was true for English Learners and special education students as well as the whole student population.
Sunrise attributes its strong scores to a well qualified and passionate staff, hard-working students and highly supportive parents.
34% of English Learners reclassified – twice the state average!
Sunrise Middle will be reclassifying 34 percent of its English Learners this month, or twice the percentage that schools statewide are able to reclassify.
The school is able to reclassify 45 of its 132 English Learners, based on their scores (4 out of 4) on the state ELPAC and SBAC exams, their grades in English and other classes, and their teachers’ recommendations.
Last year schools statewide were able to reclassify about 15 percent of their students, based on ELPAC test scores and the other standards.
Sunrise Teacher Honored
Sunrise Middle’s social studies teacher, Jaeve Luuhoang, was one of ten teachers awarded a Follow Your Bliss award from the 49ers Foundation.
Ms. Luuhoang was honored for her work on social justice and environmental issues with our youth.
Here she is shown with Harry Edwards, the namesake of the award. Mr. Edwards, 88, organized the two black Olympians that resulted in medals with black power fists, now shown on the stadium podium. He is an emeritus professor of sociology at UC Berkeley and leads the diversity program for the 49ers.
Also pictured here is Sunrise paraprofessional Jordan Monderen and the student body vice president, Alex Jose Garcia.
Recent Posts
Year-end Test Results
Year-end test results for Sunrise students showed major progress in both English and Math for the 2024-2025 school year.Students grew 1.75 years in English in just one year on the …In Solidarity with Immigrants
Nearly all of our students chose to march in solidarity with immigrants today, Day Without Immigrants. The students first learned more about the movement and made posters, then joined in …Priorities Set for LCAP
The Sunrise Middle parent advisory ELAC committee met this morning and came up with a list of things they’d like to see in the school’s new LCAP (Local Control and …
