Canyon High School

Anaheim · Orange County · Orange Unified
Public Orange County 🏛 Orange Unified → ~520 seniors CDS 3066621…
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Most similar nearby schools

Villa Park High School → Valencia High School → Katella High School → El Dorado High School → Foothill High → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
2,250 (2018)2,241 (2026)
-0.4%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
572 (2018)566 (2026)
-1.0%

If this trend holds (-0.1%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~2,240 -1 $0
3 yr (2029) ~2,238 -3 $0
5 yr (2031) ~2,235 -6 $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.

Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25

Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the Orange County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Healthy
Outperforming the market — gaining relative share even as Orange County contracts.

Canyon High School is shrinking (-1.0%) but Orange County is shrinking faster (-7.1%), so Canyon High School is winning roughly 6.1 pp of relative market share. Combined with 94.2% stability (county median 91.8%), this reflects a school that families actively chose during a market contraction. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.

-1.0%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-7.1%  Orange County baseline
+6.1pp  gap vs. county
94.2%  retention (county median 91.8%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
94.2%
2,126 of 2,257 students

131 of 2,257 students who enrolled at Canyon High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (5.8% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Orange County median
91.8% · school is in the 76th percentile of 94 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 86th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

White (906) 95.7%
Socio. disadvantaged (749) 90.4%
Hispanic / Latino (616) 90.3%
Asian (468) 97.2%
Students w/ disabilities (224) 87.9%
Two or more races (102) 94.1%

Nearest peer high schools

Villa Park High School 92.3% Valencia High School 92.6% Katella High School 88.8% El Dorado High School 93.5% Foothill High 94.0%

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.

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
17.2%
383 of 2,225 students

Absenteeism is up 7.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Orange County median
17.9% · school is better than 53% of 94 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).

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 = 546
77.8%
incl. 48.9% exceeded
+14.1 pts above Orange County median (63.7%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 544
46.0%
incl. 22.6% exceeded
+8.9 pts above Orange County median (37.1%) · 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 40% -3.5
Hispanic / Latino 26%
Asian 21%
Two or more 5% +1.7
Filipino 4%
Not reported 2%
Black / African Am. 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 32% +1.6
Socioeconomically disadv. 10%
English learners 2%

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.

District financial profile — Orange 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
$400.1M
+17.8% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$15,739
25,420 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 35.2%
Local: 54.3%
Federal: 10.5%
Instruction share
54.5%
of current spending · $7,774/pupil
Long-term debt
$199.1M
-9.3% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Orange 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).

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach
29%
150 admits / 520 seniors
+5.3 pp above peer median (23.5%) · Ranked #4 of 11 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 37.4% 2025 · 28.8%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Peer median
23.5%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
28.8%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 28.8%

Higher than 71% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Canyon High School's UC Reach of 28.8% is above the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.

For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 102.7% — a gap of 74 pp from where this school sits.

Overall, Canyon High School's UC Reach is higher than 71% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

How they did at each UC — 2019 entrants
Campus Entered Finished in 4 yrs Finished in 6 yrs
UC Irvine 35 89% 97%
UC Riverside 28 86% 93%
Only campuses with at least 20 entrants from this school shown. Source: UC Information Center.
UC Application Reach
179.0%
931 applications
Most seniors are applying to at least one of the six most selective UCs (applications counted at each campus).
In context: CA median 78.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 245.8% · Orange Co. Top 10% ≥ 294.1% · higher than 82% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
16.1%
150 / 931 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 3% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
34.0%
51 enrolled of 150 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
9.8%
51 enrollees / 520 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
448:1
5.0 FTE counselors · 2,241 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 110 more students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
74%
380 of 513 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +18.2 pp above · Orange Co. 60.5%.
UC 6-Yr Grad Rate
95%
88% finished in 4 yrs · N=97 entered 2019
In context: CA median 88.6% · +6.2 pp above.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
25.0
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.7 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.4 · higher than 73% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
4.8
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.5 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 11.1 · higher than 63% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
520
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
2,183
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
1.69
91st percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships

Canyon High School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · Anaheim · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Canyon High School sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #4 of 11): 29% vs. a peer median of 24%.
  • Its UC Reach has slipped 8 points since 2018 — worth watching.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Canyon High School is admitting at roughly -5 percentage points below what its average applicant GPA (3.988) alone would predict (16% actual vs. 21% expected). That's worth understanding — it can reflect grade inflation that UC sees through, weaker holistic-review materials at the margin, or applicants concentrating at more selective campuses than typical. Not a verdict; a signal.
  • Senior-class enrollment is down 1% (572→566 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -8%.
  • In business terms, this is market-share growth during a market contraction. Orange County's senior population shrank 7% over the same window — Canyon High School only shrank 1%. So Canyon High School picked up about 6 percentage points of relative share — families chose it over the alternatives even as the overall pool got smaller. That's overperforming the market in a shrinking market.
  • At its recent rate (-0.1%/yr), enrollment projects to ~2238 by 2029 — about 3 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

2241 students (2026)
~2238 projected (2029)
at -0.1%/yr

That's about 3 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
Canyon High School Public 2241 28.8% -1%
Peer-group median 23.5% -8%
Villa Park High School Public 2049 20.6% -14%
Valencia High School Public 2242 27.8% -6%
Katella High School Public 2168 11.3% -20%
El Dorado High School Public 2054 22.4% +12%
Foothill High Public 2050 24.6% +3%
Troy High School Public 2422 71.6% -16%
Northwood High School Public 2255 70.8% -11%
Santa Ana High School Public 2196 13.5% -4%
El Modena High School Public 1756 11.6% -9%
Yorba Linda High School Public 1706 38.6% -7%

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 →

Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
3.99
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.26

Admit rate vs. CA peer average, by campus

How does this school's admit rate at each UC compare to other CA schools whose applicant pool averages the same GPA?

Campus Applicant GPA (avg) Actual admit rate CA peer avg Δ Verdict
UC Berkeley 4.06 8.3% 13.8% -5.5pp Under
UCLA 4.00 8.2% 9.3% -1.1pp On target
UC San Diego 3.99 14.1% 20.2% -6.1pp Under
UC Santa Barbara 3.98 23.1% 31.8% -8.7pp Under
UC Irvine 3.95 21.6% 24.7% -3.1pp On target
UC Davis 3.94 23.3% 32.5% -9.2pp Under
"Applicant GPA" is the average GPA of this school's UC applicant pool — not an individual student GPA. "CA peer avg" is the application-weighted statewide admit rate at this school-pool GPA, fit separately per campus. At any given pool GPA, real admit rates span widely (UCSD ranges 8% → 65% across CA schools) because UCs use comprehensive review — context-of-opportunity, geography, demographics, and applicant essays all weigh in beyond GPA. A large negative residual flags this school is admitted at a meaningfully lower rate than other CA schools at the same pool GPA — not that students here were "rejected at expected rate X." "Over" / "Under" use a ±5-point band. Campuses with fewer than 5 applicants are omitted.

Where Canyon High School sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 5.1 points below what their GPAs predict (16.1% actual vs. 21.2% 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 121 10 5 8.3% 1.9% 50.0% 4.06 4.22
UCLA → Elite 184 15 10 8.2% 2.9% 66.7% 4.00 4.30
UC San Diego → Selective 185 26 5 14.1% 5.0% 19.2% 3.99 4.26
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 147 34 5 23.1% 6.5% 14.7% 3.98 4.30
UC Irvine → Selective 208 45 22 21.6% 8.7% 48.9% 3.95 4.24
UC Davis → 86 20 4 23.3% 3.8% 20.0% 3.94 4.21
⚠ 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 →

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.
The school generates broad UC access, but fewer students are reaching the most selective UC campuses (UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, UCSB, UCI). Targeted academic enrichment and campus-fit advising may help.
Berkeley/UCLA admit volume is modest relative to overall UC reach. This is common and reflects the highly selective nature of those campuses, but may be a target area for the school's highest-performing students.
UC Reach has declined meaningfully year-over-year. This should be reviewed in context of applicant volume, GPA trends, course rigor changes, and peer-school performance before drawing conclusions.
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.
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