No UC admissions data on file for Sunset 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.

Sunset High

· Del Norte County · Del Norte County Unified · Public

Public Del Norte County 🏛 Del Norte County Unified → CDS 0861820…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 14% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 84% (Bottom 33% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Sunset High compares for families

What families should know about Sunset High.

  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Mountain Lakes High, East High (continuation), Shasta Collegiate Academy and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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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?

Bottom 33% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
84%
Range: 80–89%
4-year cohort size
55
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

89.0%
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.

ELA — met or exceeded
n = 35
25.7%
incl. 8.6% exceeded
-12.5 pts vs. Del Norte County median (38.2%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 35
2.9%
incl. 0.0% exceeded
-8.5 pts vs. Del Norte County median (11.4%) · CA median 21.1% · 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 35% -9.8
American Indian 27% +2.5
Hispanic / Latino 21% +1.4
Two or more 15% +6.3
Black / African Am. 2%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 80% -3.9

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.

Chronic absent
92.9%
91 of 98 students

Absenteeism is down 3.5 pp since 2016-17. Engagement improving — a positive trajectory worth understanding and reinforcing.

Del Norte County median
20.8% · school is worse than 100% of 1 HS
Statewide median
22.9%

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)
68 (2018)66 (2026)
-2.9%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
37 (2018)42 (2026)
+13.5%

If this trend holds (+0.5%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~66 +0 $0
3 yr (2029) ~67 +1 $0
5 yr (2031) ~68 +2 $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.

Sunset High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is up 14% (37→42 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -1%.
  • At its recent rate (-0.4%/yr), enrollment projects to ~65 by 2029 — about 1 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

66 students (2026)
~65 projected (2029)
at -0.4%/yr

That's about 1 fewer students. At per-student funding of $ per student, that's roughly $0 in annual state funding at risk.

Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423 per ADA) — adjust to your district's actual per-pupil figure. Projection extrapolates the recent annual rate — not a forecast of intent.

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Sunset High Public 66 +14%
Peer-group median 12.5% -1%
Mountain Lakes High Public 64 +12%
East High (continuation) Public 74 -2%
Shasta Collegiate Academy Public 75 -48%
Agnes J. Johnson Charter Public 79 +0%
Zoe Barnum High Public 49 -27%
Hayfork High School Public 90 12.5% +38%
Butte Valley High School Public 98 +10%
Happy Camp High School Public 43 -47%
Six Rivers Charter School Public 107 +21%
Northcoast Preparatory And Performing Arts Academy Public 109 -29%

UC Reach = top-6 UC admits ÷ senior class (can exceed 100% when students are admitted to multiple campuses). Enrollment trend = first-to-latest grade-12 change on file. Similar schools matched on proximity, size, type. Methodology →

Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25

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

Mixed signal
Demand outpacing county is masking internal churn.

Enrollment growth is beating Del Norte County (+13.5% vs. -6.3%), but 65 of 106 students didn't maintain continuous enrollment. Why are families leaving once enrolled? Chronic absenteeism is also at 92.9% (up -3.5 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

+13.5%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-6.3%  Del Norte County baseline
+19.8pp  gap vs. county
38.7%  retention (county median 60.5%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate
38.7%
41 of 106 students

65 of 106 students who enrolled at Sunset High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (61.3% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Del Norte County median
60.5% · school is in the 50th percentile of 2 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 11th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (93) 41.9%
White (45) 31.1%
American Indian / AN (26) 53.8%
Hispanic / Latino (23) 39.1%

Nearest peer high schools

Mountain Lakes High 36.8% East High (continuation) 48.0% Shasta Collegiate Academy 38.1% Agnes J. Johnson Charter 50.0% Zoe Barnum High 49.0%

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 — Del Norte County 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
$64.0M
+31.5% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,952
3,564 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 59.4%
Local: 23.9%
Federal: 16.8%
Instruction share
60.2%
of current spending · $8,282/pupil
Long-term debt
$23.8M
+27.8% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Del Norte County 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 Sunset 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.

  • Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently 0.5%/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 →

For Parents

Researching colleges for your kid at Sunset High?

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For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →