California Preparatory Academy
San Juan Capistrano · CA · Capistrano Unified · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Capistrano Union High → College and Career Advantage → Orange County Special Education → OCCS:CHEP/PCHS → Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana → Vista Meridian Global Academy → Irvine Adult Transition Programs → Esperanza Education Center →📋 At a glance
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 22% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 95% (75th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How California Preparatory Academy compares for families
What families should know about California Preparatory Academy.
- ▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Capistrano Union High, College and Career Advantage, Orange County Special Education and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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Get an email when California Preparatory Academy's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.
SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 22% 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?
75th percentile nationally
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.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
🏛️ Federal Title I context
Lower-need school
Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)
<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.
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.
🏛️ Your state's public flagship
University of California-Berkeley
The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $13,481/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -12.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 198 students:
A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Most similar nearby high schools
The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capistrano Union High San Juan Capistrano |
Public | 1.6 | 103 | -24.3% |
| College and Career Advantage San Juan Capistrano |
Public | 0.3 | — | — |
| Orange County Special Education Costa Mesa |
Public | 17.8 | 185 | -6.6% |
| OCCS:CHEP/PCHS Tustin |
Public | 18.0 | 156 | -33.0% |
| Magnolia Science Academy Santa Ana Santa Ana |
Public · charter | 22.6 | 188 | +11.2% |
| Vista Meridian Global Academy Santa Ana |
Public · charter | 21.0 | 260 | +50.3% |
| Irvine Adult Transition Programs Irvine |
Public | 15.7 | 117 | +36.0% |
| Esperanza Education Center Mission Viejo |
Public | 7.9 | 80 | +8.1% |