Sunrise Middle School

Sunrise students for the second year in a row had the highest English scores on the state exam of all charter or district middle schools in the central/downtown San Jose area. Forty-six percent of the students met or exceeded proficiency standards in ELA, according to Spring 2018 results released by the California Department of Education this week. Twenty-six percent of the students met or exceeded proficiency for math, which was about average for the nine central San Jose schools.

Furthermore, the test results show Sunrise is closing the achievement gap for low-income students. In math, economically disadvantaged students actually did 1 percentage point better than students with economic advantage. In English, the economically disadvantaged students were only four percentage points behind the students with economic advantage.

Sunrise students return to school this Wednesday, August 15 – following a productive summer for many. Sunrise had it’s first ever Sunrise Plaza restaurant and conducted a major project on homelessness that included building tiny home communities, interviewing the homeless and presenting ideas to the mayor’s office. This year Sunrise will have its first ever Project Based Learning class in which students will focus on nutrition, poverty, human rights, animal rights, immigration, climate change and again, homelessness.

Happy Summer!

Sunrise parents and students, we wish you a happy summer! Please sign up for our summer program if you have not already. If you will not be in our summer program please continue to read each day, exercise plenty and eat healthfully! Here is a USDA interactive map that will allow families to find open sites closest to their location: https://www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks.

We are looking forward to seeing you at our back to school night, 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 7, and on the first day of school, Wednesday, August 15.

Year-end NWEA local testing shows that the number of students meeting or exceeding the national average for reading and math has grown tremendously this school year.

At the beginning of the year, 22 percent of our students were at the 50th percentile or above nationally in math; now, 47 percent are at or above the 50th percentile.

And for reading, 31.6 percent of our student were at or above the 50th percentile in August, and now, 42.7 percent are.

Amazing results! Congratulations, Aztecs!

Thirty-five professionals participated in Sunrise Middle School’s 5th Annual Career Day Jan. 24. These included City Councilman Raul Peralez, Pulitzer Prize-winning Mercury News reporters, a veterinarian, legal assistant, probation officers, firefighters, engineers, musicians, artists, DJ Chuy Gomez from 105.7, a nurse oncologist, and more.

career day video

Sunrise Middle School celebrated Thanksgiving by honoring immigrants, the Native Americans, and Mother Earth, and by expressing gratitude for all. See photos at
https://www.facebook.com/Sunrise-Middle-School-157041251077377/
Five students ran with the 500-Mile American Indian Spiritual Marathon running team in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day with the message, “All life is sacred.”

Sunrise Middle School had the highest test results in English of any middle school in the central/downtown San Jose area, according to state test results released this past week. Sunrise also had among the highest math test results. Furthermore, while many areas schools showed a decline in test scores from the previous year, Sunrise students continued to improve – by two percentage points in English and by four percentage points in math.

Forty-one percent of Sunrise Middle’s students scored proficient or advanced in English, even though nearly half of the school’s students are English learners. One fourth of the students scored proficient or advanced in math.

It was a class that focused on social justice and making the world a better place. Sunrise Board Chair Gabriel Clark told the students and parents:

Knowledge used as a weapon to harm, is ignorance!
Knowledge used as a tool to heal, is wisdom.

The education you hold in your hands is a powerful thing, it can be used to raise walls that divide us, or as a tool to build the bridges that unite us.
Be “Makers” not “Takers”!
Be “Builders” not “Breakers”!
Be “Creators” not “Haters”!
Be “Healers” not “Stealers”!
Be “Believers” not “Deceivers”!

Congratulations Class of 2021, Valedictorian Angelica Valdez and Salutatorians Annette Villalobos and Ashley Zalvala!

Sunrise boys and girls just won the semi-finals in soccer and move on to the final game on Thursday. Sunrise beat DCP El Camino girls 5-2 and the boys won 4-2 in penalties. Go Aztecs!

May 9 – 6 p.m. – Public Hearing on the school’s LCAP spending plan for 2017-18