Back Bay High

Costa Mesa · CA · Newport-Mesa Unified · Public

Public 🏛 Newport-Mesa Unified →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

Central Orange County CTE Partnership (CTEp) → Suncoast Preparatory Academy → Coastline ROP → Orange County Special Education → ACCESS County Community → Costa Mesa High → Corona del Mar High → Newport Christian School →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 6% of US high schools
🎓 4-yr grad rate: 47% (Bottom 9% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Back Bay High compares for families

What families should know about Back Bay High.

▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Central Orange County CTE Partnership (CTEp), Suncoast Preparatory Academy, Coastline ROP and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

📬

Follow Back Bay High

Get an email when Back Bay High's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

SAT/ACT test-takers

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 9% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

47%

Range: 45–49%

4-year cohort size

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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)

7.7%

Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.

% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)

61.5%

Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

79.7%

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.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor

179:1

Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.

Counselor FTE

0.8

Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.

Teacher FTE

Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

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

Grade 12 went from 82 in 2021 to 89 in 2024 — over 3 years.

+8.5%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +2.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 143 students:

2025

146

2027

153

2029

159

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

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
Central Orange County CTE Partnership (CTEp) Costa Mesa	Public	1.1	—	—
Suncoast Preparatory Academy Newport Beach	Public · charter	1.3	241	—
Coastline ROP Costa Mesa	Public	1.3	—	—
Orange County Special Education Costa Mesa	Public	1.4	185	-6.6%
ACCESS County Community Costa Mesa	Public	1.4	1,271	+17.7%
Costa Mesa High Costa Mesa	Public	1.5	1,151	-2.0%
Corona del Mar High Newport Beach	Public	1.6	1,470	-3.7%
Newport Christian School Newport Beach	Private	1.6	427	+130.8%