No UC admissions data on file for Buena Vista High (continuation).

This school doesn't appear in UCOP's source-school records (it may send few or no applicants to UC). Its enrollment trend and similar-school comparison are still below.

Buena Vista High (continuation)

· Kern County · Taft Union High · Public

Public Kern County 🏛 Taft Union High → CDS 1563818…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 6% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 49% (Bottom 10% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Buena Vista High (continuation) compares for families

What families should know about Buena Vista High (continuation).

  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Maricopa High School, Cuyama Valley High, Central Valley High (continuation) and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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?

Bottom 10% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
49%
Range: 40–59%
4-year cohort size
25
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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

94.1%
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.

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 = 38
28.9%
incl. 5.3% exceeded
-22.8 pts vs. Kern County median (51.7%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 37
5.4%
incl. 2.7% exceeded
-7.5 pts vs. Kern County median (12.9%) · 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

Hispanic / Latino 67% +1.5
White 30% -2.2
Not reported 3% +1.6

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 97% +9.1

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
65.9%
87 of 132 students

Absenteeism is up 7.1 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Kern County median
19.6% · school is worse than 91% of 47 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)
68 (2018)73 (2026)
+7.4%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
26 (2018)34 (2026)
+30.8%

If this trend holds (+0.9%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~74 +1 $0
3 yr (2029) ~75 +2 $0
5 yr (2031) ~76 +3 $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.

Buena Vista High (continuation) — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is up 31% (26→34 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -20%.
  • Enrollment has been growing (+0.9%/yr); projects to ~75 by 2029.

Enrollment projection

73 students (2026)
~75 projected (2029)
at +0.9%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Buena Vista High (continuation) Public 73 +31%
Peer-group median -20%
Maricopa High School Public 78 -43%
Cuyama Valley High Public 56 +0%
Central Valley High (continuation) Public 70 -4%
Nueva Continuation High Public 80 -55%
La Cuesta Continuation High Public 69 -17%
Valley High Public 67 -22%
Wasco Independence High Public 108 -8%
Valley Oak Charter Public 107 -78%
Alpaugh High School Public 117 -24%
San Joaquin High (continuation) Public 42 +100%

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

Mixed signal
Demand outpacing county is masking internal churn.

Enrollment growth is beating Kern County (+30.8% vs. +12.7%), but 101 of 146 students didn't maintain continuous enrollment. Why are families leaving once enrolled? Chronic absenteeism is also at 65.9% (up +7.1 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

+30.8%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+12.7%  Kern County baseline
+18.1pp  gap vs. county
30.8%  retention (county median 84.4%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
30.8%
45 of 146 students

101 of 146 students who enrolled at Buena Vista High (continuation) this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (69.2% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Kern County median
84.4% · school is in the 9th percentile of 47 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 7th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (138) 30.4%
Hispanic / Latino (92) 29.3%
White (47) 27.7%
English learners (29) 27.6%

Nearest peer high schools

Maricopa High School 66.7% Cuyama Valley High 90.0% Central Valley High (continuation) 42.5% Nueva Continuation High 30.3% La Cuesta Continuation High 29.9%

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 — Taft Union High (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
$31.7M
+9.7% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$28,936
1,095 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 45.0%
Local: 47.6%
Federal: 7.4%
Instruction share
47.8%
of current spending · $10,200/pupil
Total revenue by year ($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 Taft Union High 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).

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