IDEA Center

El Cajon · CA · Grossmont Union High · Public


📋 At a glance

Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 22% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 13% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 77% (Bottom 25% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How IDEA Center compares for families

What families should know about IDEA Center.

  • LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: River Valley Charter, The Learning Choice Academy - East County, City Heights Preparatory Charter and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 13% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
9
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
7.1
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: 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 25% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
77%
Range: 75–79%
4-year cohort size
72
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

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

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
0.3%
Strong attendance culture among teachers.

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

65.4%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

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.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
254:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
0.5
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
15
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -4.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 127 students:

2025
122
2027
112
2029
102

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.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
River Valley Charter
Lakeside
Public · charter 3.5 164 -9.4%
The Learning Choice Academy - East County
La Mesa
Public · charter 4.7 165 +35.2%
City Heights Preparatory Charter
San Diego
Public · charter 7.2 83 +20.3%
Altus Schools East County
El Cajon
Public · charter 1.3 257 +0.0%
America's Finest Charter
San Diego
Public · charter 9.9 86 -21.8%
Altus Schools North County
Escondido
Public · charter 18.2 129 +40.2%
Bostonia Global
El Cajon
Public · charter 2.9 262 +104.7%
MAAC Community Charter
Chula Vista
Public · charter 15.5 171 -15.3%

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