Bell Gardens High
Bell Gardens · CA · Montebello Unified · Public
📋 At a glance
- 📚 17 AP courses offered — Elite
- 🔢 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 2 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 78th percentile nationally
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 85% (Bottom 35% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Bell Gardens High compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 22% nationally with 17 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Vail High (Continuation), Maywood Center for Enriched Studies, Elizabeth Learning Center and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth
78th percentile nationally
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 35% 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
High-poverty school
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥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.
Counselor capacity
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -5.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 2,046 students:
≈ 507 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue at risk
At $19,471 per student in district revenue, the 507 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $9,871,797/year in funding at risk.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Nearby high schools — the local competition
The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vail High (Continuation) Montebello |
Public | 1.8 | 219 | +28.8% |
| Maywood Center for Enriched Studies Maywood |
Public | 1.9 | 748 | -10.0% |
| Elizabeth Learning Center Cudahy |
Public | 1.9 | 586 | -12.3% |
| Maywood Academy High Maywood |
Public | 2.1 | 1,012 | +0.3% |
| Bell Senior High Bell |
Public | 2.1 | 2,088 | -12.9% |
| Kirby Dorothy Camp City Of Commerce |
Public | 2.6 | 63 | +26.0% |
| Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall Downey |
Public | 2.7 | 217 | -10.0% |
| International Studies Lrng Center at Legacy High Sch Complex South Gate |
Public | 2.8 | 435 | -13.0% |