No UC admissions data on file for Kathleen Macdonald High.
This school doesn't appear in UCOP's source-school records (it may send few or no applicants to UC). Its enrollment trend and similar-school comparison are still below.
Kathleen Macdonald High
San Jose · Santa Clara County · Santa Clara Unified · Public
Shareable scorecard →Compare with peers
Most similar nearby schools
San Jose High School → James Lick High School → Mount Pleasant High School → University Prep Academy → Henry T Gunderson High School → Compare all similar →A parent's read
- About 2 in 3 students read and write at grade level. On the state's own 11th-grade test, 65% met or exceeded the college-readiness bar — well above the state as a whole (statewide: 54%).
- Kids actually show up. Only 12% of students are chronically absent, versus about 23% statewide — day-to-day engagement most schools would envy.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
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How Kathleen Macdonald High compares for families
What families should know about Kathleen Macdonald High.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: San Jose High School, James Lick High School, Mount Pleasant High School and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Federal Title I context
Mixed-income school
Below Title I eligibility threshold (FRPL < 35%)
25-34% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Below the federal Title I threshold but a meaningful share of the population is income-eligible for free lunch.
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.
SBAC academic outcomes — grade 11, 2025
Share of grade-11 students meeting or exceeding the California standard on Smarter Balanced ELA and Math. This is the academic-readiness signal that pairs with UC Reach (post-grad outcomes), stability (retention), and absenteeism (engagement). Note: statewide median Math is only ~20% — a school at 20% isn't an outlier; one at 45%+ genuinely is.
Source: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Smarter Balanced research files. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥30 tested students.
Student composition — 2025-26
HS grades 9–12 racial/ethnic composition and program subgroups, from CDE Census Day Enrollment. Two-year shift shown when ≥1 pt — surfaces how the community served has changed since 2023-24.
Race / ethnicity
Program subgroups
Source: California Department of Education, Census Day Enrollment 2025-26 (HS grades 9–12). Δ shown when shift is ≥1 pt since 2023-24. Categories below 0.5% omitted.
Chronic absenteeism — 2024-25
Share of students missing 10% or more of expected attendance — the leading indicator that often precedes the demand decline shown above. Families disengaging tend to raise absenteeism first, then formally leave. Basis: grades 9–12.
Absenteeism is down 3.5 pp since 2022-23. Engagement improving — a positive trajectory worth understanding and reinforcing.
Source: California Department of Education, Chronic Absenteeism 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 eligible students. CDE didn't publish a usable 2019-20 file (COVID).
Enrollment trend & projection
How does Kathleen Macdonald High really compare on getting kids to college?
Unlock a head-to-head snapshot of Kathleen Macdonald High against its 10 most similar nearby schools — matched on size, location, type. See exactly where it stands on the college pipeline.
Your similar-school group includes
San Jose High School · James Lick High School · Mount Pleasant High School · University Prep Academy · Henry T Gunderson High School · KIPP San Jose Collegiate · +4 more
Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25
Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the Santa Clara County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Kathleen Macdonald High is recruiting families faster than Santa Clara County is shrinking (school +20100.0% vs. county -15.1%), but 77 students didn't make it to year-end. The recruitment engine works; the mid-year exits are worth understanding.
77 of 731 students who enrolled at Kathleen Macdonald High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (10.5% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.
Stability by student group
Nearest peer high schools
Source: California Department of Education, Stability Rate 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 cumulative enrollees so by-design-high-churn continuation schools don't dominate the bottom of the distribution. Cumulative enrollment counts every student on the rolls during the year, so it can exceed peak-day enrollment.
District financial profile — Santa Clara Unified (FY2020)
From 4 years of NCES F-33 filings (the federally-mandated district finance survey). Public schools don't have their own books — the district does. These figures show the financial scale, revenue dependence, instruction-vs-overhead mix, and long-term debt that shape what a school can sustain.
Local: 83.8%
Federal: 5.7%
Source: NCES F-33 Annual Survey of School System Finances (Urban Institute Education Data API). Latest year currently published: FY2020. F-33 is a district-level federal filing — it reflects the Santa Clara Unified as a whole, not this individual school's books. Revenue mix shows where the district's dollars come from (state aid dominates in CA via LCFF). Instruction share is current expenditure on instruction ÷ total current expenditure (national benchmark ~60%). Long-term debt is end-of-year outstanding (mostly facilities bonds).
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for Kathleen Macdonald High
A board- and LCAP-ready intelligence brief: your enrollment retention and college outcomes, benchmarked against your closest competitors, with a 5-year forecast, concrete steps to act on, and the rigor + outcomes story you can share with your families. Built from primary public data — prepared for you, not auto-generated.
- ✓Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals
At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantKathleen Macdonald High is a public high school in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.
Enrollment was 852 students in 2026, up 308% since 2023.
Sources: University of California Office of the President (admissions), California Department of Education (enrollment, A-G, college-going), and the school's own published documents where named.
Questions families ask
How many students attend Kathleen Macdonald High? Enrollment was 852 students in 2026, up 308% since 2023.
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 Kathleen Macdonald High?
When a parent asks an AI assistant about Kathleen Macdonald High, 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 Kathleen Macdonald High and where it comes from. The first report is free.
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