Santa Cruz County Community

Santa Cruz · CA · Santa Cruz County Office of Education · Public · K-12 combined

Public 🏛 Santa Cruz County Office of Education →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

Santa Cruz County Special Education → Santa Cruz County Court → Santa Cruz County ROP → Santa Cruz High → Costanoa Continuation High → Ark Independent Studies → Pacific Collegiate Charter → Harbor High →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 44% of US high schools
🎓 4-yr grad rate: 61% (Bottom 12% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

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How Santa Cruz County Community compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Santa Cruz County Special Education, Santa Cruz County Court, Santa Cruz County ROP and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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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 12% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

61%

Single-point estimate

4-year cohort size

329

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)

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

% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)

0.0%

Strong attendance culture among teachers.

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

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

58.5%

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)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

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

730:1

Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.

Counselor FTE

1.0

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 255 in 2021 to 249 in 2024 — over 3 years.

-2.4%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +3.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 730 students:

2025

756

2027

811

2029

870

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
Santa Cruz County Special Education Santa Cruz	Public	0.0	56	+1.8%
Santa Cruz County Court Santa Cruz	Public	0.0	20	—
Santa Cruz County ROP Santa Cruz	Public	0.1	—	—
Santa Cruz High Santa Cruz	Public	1.2	1,093	-3.4%
Costanoa Continuation High Santa Cruz	Public	1.5	77	-6.1%
Ark Independent Studies Santa Cruz	Public	1.5	56	-28.2%
Pacific Collegiate Charter Santa Cruz	Public · charter	2.2	336	-8.4%
Harbor High Santa Cruz	Public	2.6	1,013	-2.9%