California High School
Whittier · Los Angeles County · Whittier Union High · Public
Shareable scorecard →Compare with peers
Most similar nearby schools
LA Serna High School → Sunny Hills High School → Norwalk High School → El Rancho High School → Mayfair 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, 71% met or exceeded the college-readiness bar — the top quarter of California high schools (statewide: 54%).
- Elite admits are rare — here and everywhere. Berkeley and UCLA admitted 18 of this class's 373 UC applications. The strong middle campuses — San Diego, Santa Barbara, Irvine, Davis — are where most real UC outcomes happen.
- Most grads aim beyond the UC system. Seniors file only ~0.7 UC applications each — families here mostly target CSU, private, or out-of-state colleges, so judge this school on more than its UC numbers.
- One question for any counselor: who should still test? Plenty of strong students skip the SAT/ACT now — but merit scholarships at dozens of colleges still key off scores. Ask how the school decides who should still sit for one.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
At a glance
- 19 AP courses offered — Elite
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 6 calculus classes · 24 physics · 44 chemistry
- AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
- SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 11% by test-taker volume
- 4-yr grad rate: 98% in 2019 (Top 2.3% 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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Where grads go — and what it costs & pays
UC admits by campus · Class of 2025
Getting in is step one. The cost above is the average aid-receiving family's net price — yours depends on whether you qualify for aid — and your child's odds depend on their GPA + scores. See your family's real numbers at these campuses:
Get my child's odds + our real costs →Sources: UC Office of the President (admits); IPEDS net price + College Scorecard 10-yr earnings (cost & payoff). Full campus-by-campus breakdown below.
California College-Going Rate
73.1% of the 2022-23 graduating class enrolled in college within a year.
The share of 2022-23 graduates who enrolled at a college anywhere in the U.S. within 12 months, per the National Student Clearinghouse match the California Department of Education publishes.
Give the same class four more months and 74.8% had enrolled — CDE publishes a 16-month window alongside the 12-month one, 440 students.
Up 4.3 points from the 2021-22 class (68.8%).
Where the 2022-23 class enrolled
In California — 416 students (70.7%)
Out of state — 14 students (2.4%)
CDE puts each graduate in one bucket only — whichever kind of college they were enrolled in longest — so these add up to the rate above. That is a different count from the UC Reach Score on this page, which counts a student at every UC campus that admitted them.
Source: California Department of Education, College-Going Rate (DataQuest) ↗, cohort 2022-23, posted 17-Sep-2025. Data file: cgr12mo23.txt ↗ (and the 16-month file ↗). CDE builds the rate by matching California high school completers to National Student Clearinghouse enrollment records; we publish CDE’s aggregates and hold no student-level data.
How California High School compares for families
Real college outcomes data available below.
- ▸ StatewideUC Reach Score of 12 — 7 points below the California median of 19.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsRight at the peer median (UC Reach Score 14) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.
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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth
90th percentile nationally
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 · 2020-21Bottom 11% by test-taker volume
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?
Top 2.3% 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.
Federal Title I context
High-poverty school
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.
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 up 11.1 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.
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
If this trend holds (-3.2%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~2,189 | -74 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~2,049 | -214 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~1,918 | -345 | $0 |
Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423/ADA). Edit the figure to match your school.
How does California High School really compare on getting kids to college?
We've ranked it #7 of 11 most similar nearby schools on UC Reach. Unlock the full snapshot to see the head-to-head — who's ahead, by how much, and where it's heading.
Your similar-school group includes
LA Serna High School · Sunny Hills High School · Norwalk High School · El Rancho High School · Mayfair High School · LA Habra High School · +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 Los Angeles County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Families who enroll at California High stay (91.2% stability — elite). But enrollment is dropping 1.3× the county rate (school -8.3% vs. county -6.2%). The audit question isn't why students leave — it's why fewer families are choosing to enroll in the first place.
207 of 2,354 students who enrolled at California High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (8.8% 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 — Whittier Union High (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: 29.6%
Federal: 12.2%
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 Whittier Union High 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).
California High School sent 373 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 17.4% were admitted, producing a UC Reach Score of 12 (top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors, counting a student at each campus that admitted them) — 7 points below the California median of 19, higher than 28% of California high schools. The school produces 3.5 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.
19
14
53
12
Higher than 28% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
California High School's UC Reach Score of 12 is below the California median (19). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53 or higher.
But in Los Angeles County, where the local median is 25 and the top-10% bar is 56, this score is mid-pack rather than exceptional — typical of its market rather than a standout.
Overall, California High School's UC Reach is higher than 28% of California high schools (1105 ranked).
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025
Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data: applicant and admit totals count a student once at EACH campus. A senior admitted to UCLA and UC San Diego adds 2 to the admit total, so the total can exceed the senior class — that is the metric working as defined, not an error. The admit RATE is unaffected: both its numerator and denominator are campus-level.
Campus Breakdown — 2025
| Campus | Applicants | Admits | Enrollees | Admit Rate | UC Reach Score | Yield | Avg GPA (App) | Avg GPA (Adm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UC Berkeley → Elite | 55 | 11 | 4 | 20.0% | 2 | 36.4% | — | —† |
| UCLA → Elite | 90 | 7 | 5 | 7.8% | 1 | 71.4% | — | —† |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 49 | 7 | —† | 14.3% | 1 | — | — | —† |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 49 | 18 | 6 | 36.7% | 3 | 33.3% | — | —† |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 95 | 7 | —† | 7.4% | 1 | — | — | —† |
| UC Davis → | 35 | 15 | —† | 42.9% | 3 | — | — | —† |
What This Means
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for California High School
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.
- ✓Your UC Reach Score (12) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
- ✓Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -3.2%/yr) with the revenue at stake
- ✓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 assistantCalifornia High School is a public high school in Whittier, Los Angeles County, California with 520 seniors in the Class of 2025.
Its UC Reach Score is 12 (Below the CA median, below the state median): 65 UC admits (counted at each UC) from a senior class of 520, so a student admitted to several campuses counts at each. That is higher than 28% of California high schools.
In 2025 its students filed 373 UC applications and received 65 offers, a UC admit rate of 17.4% (counted at each campus); 15 enrolled.
More of its graduates enrolled at UC Santa Barbara than at any other UC campus (6 in 2025); UC Berkeley and UCLA together admitted 18.
66% of its graduates completed the A-G courses required for UC and CSU eligibility (California median 56%).
73% of its 2022-23 graduates enrolled in college within 12 months (California Department of Education College-Going Rate).
It has about 283 students per school counselor.
Enrollment was 2,263 students in 2026, down 20% since 2018.
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
What is California High School's UC Reach Score? California High School's UC Reach Score is 12 (Below the CA median, below the state median): 65 UC admits (counted at each UC) from a senior class of 520, so a student admitted to several campuses counts at each. That is higher than 28% of California high schools.
How many students from California High School got into a UC? In 2025 its students filed 373 UC applications and received 65 offers, a UC admit rate of 17.4% (counted at each campus); 15 enrolled.
Which UC campus do California High School graduates attend most? More of California High School's graduates enrolled at UC Santa Barbara than at any other UC campus (6 in 2025); UC Berkeley and UCLA together admitted 18.
What percentage of California High School graduates complete the A-G requirements? 66% of its graduates completed the A-G courses required for UC and CSU eligibility (California median 56%).
What percentage of California High School graduates go to college? 73% of its 2022-23 graduates enrolled in college within 12 months (California Department of Education College-Going Rate).
How many students attend California High School? Enrollment was 2,263 students in 2026, down 20% since 2018.
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 California High School?
When a parent asks an AI assistant about California High School, 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 California High School and where it comes from. The first report is free.
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