No UC admissions data on file for Ferndale High School.

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.

Ferndale High School

Ferndale · Humboldt County · Ferndale Unified · Public

Public Humboldt County Ferndale Unified → CDS 1275374…
Shareable scorecard →

95% 4-yr grad rate Top 7 Attendance (lowest chronic absenteeism) in Humboldt

At a glance

Programs & features
  • 5 AP courses offered — Strong
  • 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 5 chemistry
Academic signals
  • AP rigor: 54th percentile nationally
  • 4-yr grad rate: 95% in 2019 (75th percentile nationally)

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

How Ferndale High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 54th percentile nationally with 5 AP courses.
  • Locally🎯 Top 7 in Humboldt County on Attendance (lowest chronic absenteeism).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Academy of the Redwoods, Pacific View Charter 2.0, East High (continuation) and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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California College-Going Rate

78.3% 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.

Within 12 months
78.3%
of 23 graduates

Give the same class four more months and 82.6% had enrolled — CDE publishes a 16-month window alongside the 12-month one, 19 students.

Up 24 points from the 2021-22 class (54.3%).

Where the 2022-23 class enrolled

In California — 15 students (65.2%)

University of California 0.0% 0
California State University 17.4% 4
California Community College 47.8% 11
California private college 0.0% 0

Out of state — 3 students (13.0%)

Out-of-state 4-year 13.0% 3
Out-of-state 2-year 0.0% 0

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.

Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

54th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
5
Subject breadth not reported
Students taking AP courses
23
≈16 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
11
2 calculus · 9 advanced
Lab science classes
6
1 physics · 5 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

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 · 2020-21
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

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?

75th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
95%
Range: 90–100%
4-year cohort size
36
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.

Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

46.2%
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.

College readiness

Getting ready for college

These come from the state and federal files, not from UC — so they are here whether or not Ferndale High School has a UC admissions record.

Student-Counselor Ratio
Counseling here is unusually well-staffed — about 145 students per counselor, near what experts recommend.
145:1
1.0 FTE counselors · 145 students
In context: CA median 337:1 · 192 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
Only 1 in 3 graduates finish the courses UC and CSU require — below the state norm. Worth asking how course access and planning work here.
31%
11 of 36 graduates · 2023-24 cohort
In context: CA median 54.5% · -23.9 pp vs. median · Humboldt Co. 35.1%.

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.

About half of students read and write at grade level — about the state norm.
About 1 in 3 students do math at grade level — above the state norm.
ELA — met or exceeded
n = 33
51.5%
incl. 21.2% exceeded
+5.6 pts above Humboldt County median (45.9%) · CA median 54.5% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.4%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 33
30.3%
incl. 12.1% exceeded
+9.3 pts above Humboldt County median (21.0%) · CA median 21.4% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 53.6%

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

White 73% +5.4
Hispanic / Latino 19% -7.8
Two or more 5% +4.0
American Indian 2%
Black / African Am. 1%

Program subgroups

Socioeconomically disadv. 34% -26.4

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.

22% of students are chronically absent — near the state norm of about 23%.
Chronic absent
22.1%
32 of 145 students

Absenteeism is in the typical CA HS range. Worth monitoring alongside the demand and retention signals above.

Humboldt County median
26.6% · school is better than 73% of 11 HS
Statewide median
22.8%
Chronic absenteeism by year (raw %)

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

Total enrollment (9–12)
166 (2018)145 (2026)
-12.7%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
37 (2018)33 (2026)
-10.8%

If this trend holds (-1.6%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~143 -2 $0
3 yr (2029) ~138 -7 $0
5 yr (2031) ~134 -11 $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 Ferndale High School really compare on getting kids to college?

Unlock a head-to-head snapshot of Ferndale High School against its 10 most similar nearby schools — matched on size, location, type. See exactly where it stands on the college pipeline.

The full head-to-head table — every peer school's UC Reach, side by side.
Enrollment trend + 3-year projection — is this school growing or quietly shrinking?
The plain-English read on what it all means for your family.

Your similar-school group includes

Academy of the Redwoods · Pacific View Charter 2.0 · East High (continuation) · Redwood Coast Montessori · Northcoast Preparatory And Performing Arts Academy · Six Rivers Charter School · +4 more

Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement. We'll email you the snapshot and a few alerts a year. Unsubscribe anytime.

Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25

Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the Humboldt County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

94% of students who start the year here finish it here.
Critical
Sharp demand downturn hidden by elite retention.

Ferndale High School's enrollment is shrinking far faster than Humboldt County (school -10.8% vs. county +41.0%). Stability of 93.9% means every family you keep is one fewer; the leverage is at recruitment, not retention. This is the case the high stability number alone would hide.

-10.8%  senior class, grade 12 (2018–2026)
+41.0%  Humboldt County baseline
-51.8pp  gap vs. county
93.9%  retention (county median 88.7%)
Senior class (grade 12) — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
93.9%
139 of 148 students

9 of 148 students who enrolled at Ferndale High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (6.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Humboldt County median
88.7% · school is in the 100th percentile of 12 HS
Statewide median
87.3% · in the 84th percentile of 1,734 HS

Stability by student group

White (104) 94.2%
Socio. disadvantaged (77) 92.2%
Hispanic / Latino (34) 94.1%
Students w/ disabilities (22) 86.4%

Nearest peer high schools

Academy of the Redwoods 91.9% Pacific View Charter 2.0 66.7% East High (continuation) 48.0% Redwood Coast Montessori 82.8% Northcoast Preparatory And Performing Arts Academy 85.7%

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 — Ferndale 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.

Total revenue
$7.8M
+13.9% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,090
454 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 53.8%
Local: 31.8%
Federal: 14.4%
Instruction share
62.2%
of current spending · $9,614/pupil
Long-term debt
$0.5M
-24.8% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($M)
Total expenditure by year ($M)

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 Ferndale 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 Ferndale 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 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -1.6%/yr) with the revenue at stake
  • Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals
See a sample report →

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