Buchanan High

· Fresno County · Clovis Unified · Public

Public Fresno County 🏛 Clovis Unified → ~649 seniors CDS 1062117…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖19 AP courses 🎓97% 4-yr grad rate 📘Top 5% ELA proficiency in CA 🎓Top 7 UC Reach in Fresno 📘Top 6 ELA proficiency in Fresno +1 more

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 19 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 6 calculus classes · 7 physics · 18 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Buchanan High compares for families

Mid-pack college outcomes within California.

  • Statewide19.4% UC Reach — right around the California median of 18.1%.
  • Locally📘 Top 5% in California on ELA proficiency — plus 3 more top-ranks.
  • vs Similar SchoolsBeats the peer median (19.4% UC Reach vs 14.2% median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

Top 3.7% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
19
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
15
6 calculus · 9 advanced
Lab science classes
25
7 physics · 18 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program
✅ Gifted/talented program

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 · 2020-21
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?

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
97%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
638
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

Title I Targeted Assistance eligible

35-39% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Targeted Assistance

35.2%
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)

35-39% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school can receive Title I funds targeted to identified students (not schoolwide).

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.

📊 Key takeaway · Class of 2025

Buchanan High sent 425 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 29.6% were admitted, producing a UC Reach of 19.4%1.3 percentage points above the California median of 18.1%, higher than 54% of California high schools. The school produces 3.1 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach
19%
126 admits / 649 seniors
+5.2 pp above peer median (14.2%) · Ranked #3 of 10 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 20.6% 2025 · 19.4%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.1%
Top 10%
51.2%
This school
19.4%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.1% Top 10% ≥ 51.2% This school 19.4%

Higher than 54% of California high schools (978 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Buchanan High's UC Reach of 19.4% is above the California median (18.1%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 51.2% or higher.

In Fresno County, where the local median is just 12.2%, this score is unusually strong for its immediate market.

For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 97.3% — a gap of 78 pp from where this school sits.

Overall, Buchanan High's UC Reach is higher than 54% of California high schools (978 ranked).

UC Application Reach
65.5%
425 applications
In context: CA median 74.9% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 241.0% · Fresno Co. Top 10% ≥ 117.4% · higher than 43% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
29.6%
126 / 425 applications
In context: CA median 26.1% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 67% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
23.0%
29 enrolled of 126 admitted
Yield vs. Enrollment Reach: Yield answers "of UC admits, what % chose UC?" — denominator is just the admits. A small admitted cohort can post a low yield even when the school sends a healthy share of its class to UC.
UC Enrollment Reach
4.5%
29 enrollees / 649 seniors
Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what % ended up at UC?" — denominator is everyone. High Yield with low Enrollment Reach is common at elite privates: most admits matriculate, but the school sends most of its class to non-UC selective colleges.
Student-Counselor Ratio
859:1
3.0 FTE counselors · 2,578 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 521 more students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
65%
411 of 635 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +8.8 pp above.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
15.6
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.4 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 41.5 · higher than 50% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
3.1
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.3 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 9.7 · higher than 47% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
649
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
2,551
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
1.45
80th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships
Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
4.02
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.26

UC funnel — which kids are getting in at what GPA

Combining the school's applicant pool GPA, admit pool GPA, actual admit rate, and statewide CA admit rates by individual GPA band, we can read which GPA tiers tend to get in — and which don't.

🎯 Who's actually getting into UC from Buchanan High
Campus 4.00+ GPA 3.70–3.99 GPA 3.30–3.69 GPA < 3.30 GPA
UC Berkeley Real shot Long odds Filtered out Filtered out
UCLA Real shot Long odds Filtered out Filtered out
UC San Diego Strong shot Moderate Long odds Filtered out
UC Santa Barbara Strong shot Real shot Long odds Filtered out
UC Irvine Strong shot Real shot Long odds Filtered out
UC Davis Strong shot Strong shot Real shot Filtered out
Strong shot = ≥30% statewide admit rate at this band · Real shot = 10–29% · Moderate = 5–9% · Long odds = 1–4% · Filtered out = under 1%. Tiers map this school's likely outcomes by GPA tier using statewide CA admit rates from UCOP 2025.

The numbers behind it

Campus Applicant GPA Admit GPA Lift Admit rate vs peer schools @ same GPA
UC Berkeley 4.05 4.30 +0.25 18.0% Peers +0.20 · steeper
UCLA 4.07 4.32 +0.25 13.0% Peers +0.23 · matches
UC San Diego 3.99 4.28 +0.29 26.0% Peers +0.27 · matches
UC Santa Barbara 4.01 4.30 +0.30 36.8% Peers +0.26 · steeper
UC Irvine 4.04 4.19 +0.15 47.8% Peers +0.21 · wider
UC Davis 3.98 4.23 +0.25 34.2% Peers +0.22 · matches
📊 Statewide CA admit rates by individual GPA band, 2025 (for reference)
GPA band UCB UCLA UCSD UCSB UCI UCD
4.00+ 17.0% 15.1% 45.2% 62.3% 46.3% 65.9%
3.70–3.99 3.1% 1.6% 9.3% 17.6% 17.0% 31.1%
3.30–3.69 0.8% 0.5% 1.5% 2.8% 2.4% 10.3%
3.00–3.29 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.4% 0.3% 1.9%
< 3.00 0.7% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.1% 0.7%
How we infer the tier labels: Each tier comes from the statewide CA admit rate at that GPA band at that UC. The "vs peers" column compares this school's lift (admit GPA − applicant GPA) to the average lift at ~100–300 other CA schools with similar applicant pool GPA. What this isn't: a guarantee. UC comprehensive review weighs essays, course rigor, demographics, and context-of-opportunity beyond GPA. A 3.9 with strong context can land an admit; a 4.0 with weak essays can be denied. Use as a baseline expectation, not a verdict. Per-campus year is shown when it differs from the headline year (UCOP doesn't always publish admit-GPA for every campus every year).

Where Buchanan High sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 6.4 points above what their GPAs predict (29.6% actual vs. 23.2% expected).

UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025

UC Admit Rate %
UC Reach % (where available)
UC Admits (count, right axis)

Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data — applicant/admit totals may count a student at multiple campuses more than once.

Campus Breakdown — 2025

Campus Applicants Admits Enrollees Admit Rate UC Reach Yield Avg GPA (App) Avg GPA (Adm)
UC Berkeley → Elite 61 11 6 18.0% 1.7% 54.5% 4.05 4.30
UCLA → Elite 69 9 3 13.0% 1.4% 33.3% 4.07 4.32
UC San Diego → Selective 77 20 4 26.0% 3.1% 20.0% 3.99 4.28
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 76 28 36.8% 4.3% 4.01 4.30
UC Irvine → Selective 69 33 12 47.8% 5.1% 36.4% 4.04 4.19
UC Davis → 73 25 4 34.2% 3.9% 16.0% 3.98 4.23
= UCOP-suppressed (count below 3 students, hidden for privacy — actual value is 0, 1, or 2, not necessarily zero). Campus-level totals may count one student admitted to multiple UC campuses more than once; Admit Volume metrics are not the same as UC Reach, which requires unique-student counts. See methodology →

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 = 589
82.3%
incl. 54.0% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+27.1 pts above Fresno County median (55.2%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 579
57.0%
incl. 25.9% exceeded
★ Top 10% CA
+38.9 pts above Fresno County median (18.1%) · 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 39% -3.7
Hispanic / Latino 37% +1.1
Asian 12% +1.0
Two or more 5%
Black / African Am. 3%
Filipino 2%
Not reported 1%
American Indian 0%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 44% +10.7
Socioeconomically disadv. 9%
English learners 1%

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
15.5%
406 of 2,612 students

Absenteeism is up 10.1 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Fresno County median
21.5% · school is better than 71% of 55 HS
Statewide median
22.9%
Chronic absenteeism by year (raw %)

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)
2,700 (2018)2,578 (2026)
-4.5%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
671 (2018)622 (2026)
-7.3%

If this trend holds (-0.6%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~2,563 -15 $0
3 yr (2029) ~2,534 -44 $0
5 yr (2031) ~2,505 -73 $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.

Buchanan High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Buchanan High sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #3 of 10): 19% vs. a peer median of 14%.
  • Its UC Reach has risen 6 points since 2018.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Buchanan High is admitting at roughly +6 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (4.021) alone would predict (30% actual vs. 23% expected). That's a meaningful signal — it can reflect UC's track record with this school's graduates, students presenting strongly in UC's holistic review (essays, EC's, context), or institutional familiarity helping at the margin. The data can't distinguish which, but the pattern itself is real and worth understanding.
  • Senior-class enrollment is down 7% (671→622 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +3%.
  • At its recent rate (-0.6%/yr), enrollment projects to ~2534 by 2029 — about 44 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

2578 students (2026)
~2534 projected (2029)
at -0.6%/yr

That's about 44 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
Buchanan High Public 2578 19.4% -7%
Peer-group median 14.2% +3%
Clovis North High School Public 2380 46.0% -3%
Clovis High School Public 2750 8.7% -5%
Clovis West High School Public 2210 14.6% +5%
Bullard High School Public 2498 11.8% -10%
Clovis East High School Public 2764 10.9% +30%
Herbert Hoover High School Public 2035 5.1% +24%
Sunnyside High School Public 2833 17.7% +12%
Mclane High School Public 2037 14.2% +40%
Roosevelt High Public 2154 +1%
Edison High School Public 2393 22.0% +0%

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 Fresno County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Critical
Sharp demand downturn hidden by elite retention.

Buchanan High's enrollment is shrinking far faster than Fresno County (school -7.3% vs. county +6.7%). Stability of 92.0% means every family you keep is one fewer; the leverage is at recruitment, not retention. This is the case the high stability number alone would hide.

-7.3%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+6.7%  Fresno County baseline
-14.0pp  gap vs. county
92.0%  retention (county median 85.0%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
92.0%
2,457 of 2,670 students

213 of 2,670 students who enrolled at Buchanan High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (8.0% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Fresno County median
85.0% · school is in the 85th percentile of 55 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 76th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (1,080) 86.9%
White (1,078) 92.9%
Hispanic / Latino (982) 90.8%
Asian (317) 95.0%
Students w/ disabilities (230) 84.8%
Two or more races (130) 90.0%

Nearest peer high schools

Clovis North High School 93.6% Clovis High School 88.9% Clovis West High School 90.0% Bullard High School 84.6% Clovis East High School 90.0%

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 — Clovis 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
$668.4M
+17.7% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$15,619
42,790 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 64.5%
Local: 26.9%
Federal: 8.6%
Instruction share
59.2%
of current spending · $7,629/pupil
Long-term debt
$489.1M
-1.5% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Clovis 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).

What This Means

A large share of the senior class applies to UC, indicating strong college-going culture and UC pipeline development.
A large share of the class applies to UC, so the admit rate runs lower than the application volume alone might suggest — expected when many students apply broadly, including to reach campuses. UC Reach (which credits every admit relative to the class) is the truer read of how the class fares: a strong Reach alongside a moderate admit rate is healthy, not a contradiction.
Students are earning UC admission but enrolling elsewhere at a notable rate. This may reflect competition from private colleges, out-of-state flagships, cost considerations, or UC campus fit. Student outcome surveys can clarify.
UC Reach has improved meaningfully compared to the prior year — a positive trajectory worth monitoring and reinforcing.
Note: admit counts used here are campus-level totals. A student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted twice. When UCOP unique-student data becomes available it will be loaded automatically and the labels will update.
Compare with other schools → See Fresno County rankings →

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