Ark Independent Studies
Santa Cruz · CA · Santa Cruz City High · Public · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Santa Cruz County Special Education → Costanoa Continuation High → Santa Cruz County ROP → Delta Charter → New School Community Day → SLVUSD Charter → Santa Cruz County Court → Pacific Coast Charter →At a glance
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 1 calculus classes · 1 physics · 1 chemistry
- AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
- 4-yr grad rate: 74% in 2019 (Bottom 17% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
Keep this page current
Work at Ark Independent Studies? If this page is missing your newest school profile, matriculation list, or college acceptances, send us the links. We read the document, copy the figures exactly as published, and cite it on this page.
Send us links
Links only, please. We can't take file uploads, and we never publish a number without the document it came from.
By sending this you agree that we may email you about your request. We write by email only, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
How Ark Independent Studies compares for families
What families should know about Ark Independent Studies.
- ▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Santa Cruz County Special Education, Costanoa Continuation High, Santa Cruz County ROP and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
Get alerts when Ark Independent Studies's numbers change
New admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.
Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Moderate — some AP / advanced course access
Bottom 33% of US high schools
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
Bottom 17% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
Federal Title I context
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program
40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.
Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -11.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 56 students:
A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Cruz County Special Education Santa Cruz |
Public | 1.5 | 56 | +1.8% |
| Costanoa Continuation High Santa Cruz |
Public | 0.0 | 77 | -6.1% |
| Santa Cruz County ROP Santa Cruz |
Public | 1.4 | — | — |
| Delta Charter Aptos |
Public · charter | 4.9 | 113 | +8.7% |
| New School Community Day Watsonville |
Public | 13.8 | 42 | — |
| SLVUSD Charter Ben Lomond |
Public · charter | 7.9 | 108 | +28.6% |
| Santa Cruz County Court Santa Cruz |
Public | 1.5 | 20 | — |
| Pacific Coast Charter Watsonville |
Public · charter | 13.8 | 87 | -17.9% |
At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantArk Independent Studies is a public high school in Santa Cruz, CA, enrolling 56 students in grades 9-12 in 2024.
Its federal four-year graduation rate was about 74% in the latest EDFacts release.
Sources: National Center for Education Statistics (enrollment), the federal Civil Rights Data Collection and EDFacts, state education agencies where named, and the school's own published documents where named.
Questions families ask
What is Ark Independent Studies's graduation rate? Ark Independent Studies's federal four-year graduation rate was about 74% in the latest EDFacts release.
How many students attend Ark Independent Studies? Ark Independent Studies is a public high school in Santa Cruz, CA, enrolling 56 students in grades 9-12 in 2024.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com). These figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
What does AI tell parents about Ark Independent Studies?
When a parent asks an AI assistant about Ark Independent Studies, the answer is built from a handful of sources, and Reach is often one of them. We will send your school a short report on what AI says about Ark Independent Studies and where it comes from. The first report is free.
Request the free report
Related reading
California · October 2, 2026
California · October 2, 2026
AP courses · October 2026