Kern Valley High School

Lake Isabella · Kern County · Kern High · Public

Public Kern County Kern High → ~124 seniors CDS 1563529…

Data Year

Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Desert High School → Harmony Magnet Academy → Kern Workforce 2000 Academy → Vista West Continuation High → California City High School → Compare all similar →

At a glance

Programs & features

2 AP courses offered — Strong
Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
Gifted & talented program
1 calculus classes · 1 physics · 3 chemistry

Academic signals

AP rigor: 56th percentile nationally
SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 4% by test-taker volume
4-yr grad rate: 82% in 2019 (Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

California College-Going Rate

23.9% 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

23.9%

of 88 graduates

Give the same class four more months and 26.1% had enrolled — CDE publishes a 16-month window alongside the 12-month one, 23 students.

Up 4.8 points from the 2021-22 class (19.1%).

Where the 2022-23 class enrolled

In California — 15 students (17.0%)

University of California 0.0% 0

California State University 3.4% 3

California Community College 11.4% 10

California private college 2.3% 2

Out of state — 6 students (6.8%)

Out-of-state 4-year 6.8% 6

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.

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How Kern Valley High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

▸ StatewideAP rigor at the 56th percentile nationally with 2 AP courses.
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Desert High School, Harmony Magnet Academy, Kern Workforce 2000 Academy and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

56th percentile nationally

Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor

AP courses offered

Math ✓

Students taking AP courses

≈1 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings

Advanced math classes

1 calculus · 2 advanced

Lab science classes

1 physics · 3 chemistry

Other rigor signals

Dual-enrollment program
Gifted/talented program

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

Bottom 4% by test-taker volume

SAT/ACT test-takers

11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test

Test-taking intensity

0.4

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 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

82%

Range: 80–84%

4-year cohort size

113

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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

76.9%

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)

≥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.

About 1 in 4 students read and write at grade level — below the state norm — worth asking what extra support looks like.

About 1 in 10 students do math at grade level — about the state norm.

ELA — met or exceeded

n = 108

29.6%

incl. 7.4% exceeded

-22.1 pts vs. Kern County median (51.7%) · CA median 54.5% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.4%

Math — met or exceeded

n = 106

12.3%

incl. 0.9% exceeded

On the Kern County median (12.9%) · 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 62% -8.3

Hispanic / Latino 22% +1.5

Not reported 8% +6.9

Two or more 5%

American Indian 2%

Black / African Am. 1%

Program subgroups

Socioeconomically disadv. 83% +5.2

Students w/ disabilities 19% +3.2

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.

33% of students miss 10%+ of school days — above the state's ~23%. Ask what the school is doing about engagement.

Chronic absent

32.6%

175 of 536 students

Absenteeism is up 8.9 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Kern County median

19.6% · school is worse than 79% of 47 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)

434 (2018) → 509 (2026)

+17.3%

Grade 12 (graduating class)

93 (2018) → 122 (2026)

+31.2%

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)	~517	+8	$0
3 yr (2029)	~534	+25	$0
5 yr (2031)	~551	+42	$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 Kern Valley High School really compare on getting kids to college?

Unlock a head-to-head snapshot of Kern Valley 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

Desert High School · Harmony Magnet Academy · Kern Workforce 2000 Academy · Vista West Continuation High · California City High School · Mojave Jr./Sr. High · +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 Kern County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

88% of students who start the year here finish it here.

Action needed

Watch — engagement collapsing under a stable surface.

On the surface Kern Valley High School looks fine — enrollment is +31.2% vs. Kern County +12.7%, and 87.9% of students stay through year-end. But chronic absenteeism is at 32.6%, up +8.9 pts since 2016-17 (county median 19.2%). Disengagement leads departure — families pull back from the day-to-day before they formally leave. The demand signal usually follows within 2–3 years.

+31.2% senior class, grade 12 (2018–2026)

+12.7% Kern County baseline

+18.5pp gap vs. county

87.9% retention (county median 84.4%)

Senior class (grade 12) — indexed to 100 at 2018

Stability rate by year (raw %)

Stability rate

87.9%

478 of 544 students

66 of 544 students who enrolled at Kern Valley High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (12.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Kern County median

84.4% · school is in the 74th percentile of 47 HS

Statewide median

87.3% · in the 54th percentile of 1,734 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (425) 86.1%

White (336) 88.7%

Hispanic / Latino (121) 84.3%

Students w/ disabilities (93) 83.9%

Two or more races (23) 91.3%

Nearest peer high schools

Desert High School 88.3% Harmony Magnet Academy 95.8% Kern Workforce 2000 Academy 35.6% Vista West Continuation High 36.9% California City High School 74.3%

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 — Kern 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.

Total revenue

$740.6M

+25.7% since FY2017

Per-pupil revenue

$17,478

42,370 students enrolled

Revenue mix

State: 62.0%
Local: 25.3%
Federal: 12.7%

Instruction share

45.5%

of current spending · $6,660/pupil

Long-term debt

$376.0M

-11.0% 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 Kern 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).

UC Reach Score ⓘ methodology

UC Application Reach Score ⓘ

5 applications

In context: CA median 62 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 178 · Kern Co. Top 10% ≥ 60 · higher than 0% of CA HS.

UC Admit Rate ⓘ

N/A

— / 5 applications

UC Yield Rate ⓘ

N/A

— enrolled of — admitted

Yield vs. Enrollment Reach: Yield answers "of UC admits, what % chose UC?" — denominator is just the admits. A small admitted cohort can post a low yield even when the school sends a healthy share of its class to UC.

UC Enrollment Reach Score ⓘ

N/A

— enrollees / 124 seniors

Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what share ended up at UC?" — denominator is everyone. High Yield with low Enrollment Reach is common at elite privates: most admits matriculate, but the school sends most of its class to non-UC selective colleges.

Student-Counselor Ratio ⓘ

Counseling here is unusually well-staffed — about 254 students per counselor, near what experts recommend.

254:1

2.0 FTE counselors · 509 students

In context: CA median 337:1 · 83 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.

A-G Completion ⓘ

Only 1 in 10 graduates finish the courses UC and CSU require — below the state norm. Worth asking how course access and planning work here.

15%

17 of 111 graduates · 2024-25 cohort

In context: CA median 55.9% · -40.6 pp vs. median · Kern Co. 39.4%.

Selective UC Reach (UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI — incl. the Elite two) ⓘ

N/A

Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA) ⓘ

N/A

Senior Class Size ⓘ

124

CDE grade 12 (exact)

Total School Enrollment ⓘ

471

All grades · CDE Census Day

Economic Connectedness ⓘ

0.81

29th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships

Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs ⓘ

3.90

Campus Breakdown — 2020

Campus	Applicants	Admits	Enrollees	Admit Rate	UC Reach Score	Yield	Avg GPA (App)	Avg GPA (Adm)
UC San Diego → Selective	5	—^†	—^†	—^†	—^†	—	3.90	—^†

† = UCOP-suppressed (count below 3 students, hidden for privacy — actual value is 0, 1, or 2, not necessarily zero). Campus-level totals may count one student admitted to multiple UC campuses more than once; Admit Volume metrics are not the same as UC Reach, which is measured against the whole senior class. See methodology →

What This Means

A relatively small share of the senior class is entering the UC application pipeline. This may signal limited A-G completion, UC awareness gaps, or counseling capacity constraints. Broadening access is the highest-leverage opportunity for this school.

Note: the UC Reach Score sums campus-level admits across the top-six UC campuses, so a student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted at each. It reflects competitive admit volume relative to class size — admit-events, not distinct students — which is why a Score can exceed 100.

Compare with other schools → See Kern County rankings →

For School Admins

The full Reach Report for Kern Valley 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 →