Pescadero High School
Pescadero · San Mateo County · La Honda-Pescadero Unified · Public
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Most similar nearby schools
Alta Vista High → Oxford Day Academy → Slvusd Charter School → Costanoa Continuation High → New Valley Continuation High → Compare all similar →A parent's read
- About 8 in 10 students read and write at grade level. On the state's own 11th-grade test, 86% met or exceeded the college-readiness bar — the top 10% of California high schools (statewide: 54%).
- Families don't leave. 95% of students who start the year here finish it here — top-tier retention statewide. Kids stay; that tells you something no test score does.
- Worth asking about: attendance. 41% of students are chronically absent — above the state's ~23%. Ask what the school is doing about engagement; absenteeism is usually the earliest warning light.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
At a glance
- 1 AP courses offered — Moderate
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
- 4-yr grad rate: 90% in 2019 (Bottom 49% 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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California College-Going Rate
82.4% 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 88.2% had enrolled — CDE publishes a 16-month window alongside the 12-month one, 15 students.
Up 8.5 points from the 2021-22 class (73.9%).
Where the 2022-23 class enrolled
In California — 14 students (82.4%)
Out of state — 0 students (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.
How Pescadero High School compares for families
What families should know about Pescadero High School.
- ▸ Locally📘 Top 5% in California on ELA proficiency — plus 1 more top-rank.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Alta Vista High, Oxford Day Academy, Slvusd Charter School and 2 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.
Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Moderate — some AP / advanced course access
Bottom 33% of US high schools
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 · 2020-21Source: 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 49% 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
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 up 25.7 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 (-2.1%/yr, Total enrollment)
At per-pupil funding of $ / student:
| Horizon | Projected Total enrollment | Change | Funding impact / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 yr (2027) | ~72 | -2 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~70 | -4 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~67 | -7 | $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 Pescadero High School really compare on getting kids to college?
Unlock a head-to-head snapshot of Pescadero High School 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
Alta Vista High · Oxford Day Academy · Slvusd Charter School · Costanoa Continuation High · New Valley Continuation High · Pilarcitos Alternative High (continuation) · +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 San Mateo County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Pescadero High School's enrollment is shrinking 4.1× the county rate (school -15.4% vs. county -3.8%). Stability of 95.1% 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. Chronic absenteeism is also at 40.7% (up +25.7 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.
4 of 81 students who enrolled at Pescadero High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (4.9% 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 — La Honda-Pescadero 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: 76.8%
Federal: 7.8%
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 La Honda-Pescadero 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).
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2023
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 — 2023
| Campus | Applicants | Admits | Enrollees | Admit Rate | UC Reach Score | Yield | Avg GPA (App) | Avg GPA (Adm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA → Elite | 5 | —† | —† | —† | —† | — | 3.57 | —† |
What This Means
For School Admins
The full Reach Report for Pescadero 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 -2.1%/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 assistantPescadero High School is a public high school in Pescadero, San Mateo County, California.
43% of its graduates completed the A-G courses required for UC and CSU eligibility (California median 50%).
82% of its 2022-23 graduates enrolled in college within 12 months (California Department of Education College-Going Rate).
It has about 74 students per school counselor.
Enrollment was 74 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 percentage of Pescadero High School graduates complete the A-G requirements? 43% of its graduates completed the A-G courses required for UC and CSU eligibility (California median 50%).
What percentage of Pescadero High School graduates go to college? 82% of its 2022-23 graduates enrolled in college within 12 months (California Department of Education College-Going Rate).
How many students attend Pescadero High School? Enrollment was 74 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.
Related reading
California · October 2, 2026
From the data · October 2, 2026
AP courses · October 2026