Delano High School

Delano · Kern County · Delano Joint Union High · Public

Public Kern County 🏛 Delano Joint Union High → ~316 seniors CDS 1563412…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

📚AP rigor: 80th percentile nationally 📖9 AP courses 🎓98% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 9 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 3 physics · 13 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 80th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 1% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 98% (Top 2.3% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Delano High School compares for families

Real college outcomes data available below.

  • Statewide11.1% UC Reach — 7.0 points below the California median of 18.1%.
  • vs Similar SchoolsTrails the peer median (11.1% UC Reach vs 14.3% median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

80th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
9
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
9
2 calculus · 7 advanced
Lab science classes
16
3 physics · 13 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

Bottom 1% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
1
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.1
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

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?

Top 2.3% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
98%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
345
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

92.8%
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.

📊 Key takeaway · Class of 2025

Delano High School sent 119 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 29.4% were admitted, producing a UC Reach of 11.1%7.0 percentage points below the California median of 18.1%, higher than 22% of California high schools. The school produces 0.9 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach
11%
35 admits / 316 seniors
-3.2 pp vs. peer median (14.3%) · Ranked #8 of 9 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 11.9% 2025 · 11.1%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.1%
Top 10%
51.2%
This school
11.1%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.1% Top 10% ≥ 51.2% This school 11.1%

Higher than 22% of California high schools (978 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Delano High School's UC Reach of 11.1% is below the California median (18.1%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 51.2% or higher.

In Kern County, where the local median is just 9.9%, this score is unusually strong for its immediate market.

Overall, Delano High School's UC Reach is higher than 22% of California high schools (978 ranked).

UC Application Reach
37.7%
119 applications
In context: CA median 74.9% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 241.0% · Kern Co. Top 10% ≥ 100.6% · higher than 16% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
29.4%
35 / 119 applications
In context: CA median 26.1% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 66% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
11.4%
4 enrolled of 35 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
1.3%
4 enrollees / 316 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
237:1
5.0 FTE counselors · 1,183 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 101 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
78%
251 of 323 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +21.8 pp above · Kern Co. 39.4%.
UC 6-Yr Grad Rate
60%
55% finished in 4 yrs · N=20 entered 2016
In context: CA median 87.8% · -27.8 pp vs. median.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
9.2
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.4 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 41.5 · higher than 19% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
0.9
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.3 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 9.7 · higher than 6% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
316
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
1,221
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
0.56
8th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships
Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
3.91
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.09

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 Delano High School
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 (2023) 3.99 4.18 +0.19 26.3% Peers +0.22 · matches
UCLA (2023) 3.93 4.16 +0.23 13.5% Peers +0.30 · wider
UC San Diego 3.96 4.15 +0.19 52.4% Peers +0.28 · wider
UC Santa Barbara 3.77 4.00 +0.23 62.5% Peers +0.36 · wider
UC Irvine 3.92 4.14 +0.21 22.7% Peers +0.26 · wider
UC Davis 3.91 4.11 +0.20 60.0% Peers +0.25 · wider
📊 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 Delano High School sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 16.2 points above what their GPAs predict (36.5% actual vs. 20.3% 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 23 3.91
UCLA → Elite 27 3 11.1% 0.9% 3.96
UC San Diego → Selective 21 11 4 52.4% 3.5% 36.4% 3.96 4.15
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 16 10 62.5% 3.2% 3.77 4.00
UC Irvine → Selective 22 5 22.7% 1.6% 3.92 4.14
UC Davis → 10 6 60.0% 1.9% 3.91 4.11
= 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 = 269
62.8%
incl. 29.7% exceeded
+11.1 pts above Kern County median (51.7%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 266
26.3%
incl. 8.7% exceeded
+13.4 pts above 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 90%
Filipino 8%
White 1%
Two or more 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 90% -3.9
English learners 23% -2.9
Socioeconomically disadv. 8%

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
19.2%
241 of 1,253 students

Absenteeism is in the typical CA HS range. Worth monitoring alongside the demand and retention signals above.

Kern County median
19.6% · school is better than 55% 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)
1,414 (2018)1,183 (2026)
-16.3%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
323 (2018)283 (2026)
-12.4%

If this trend holds (-2.2%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~1,157 -26 $0
3 yr (2029) ~1,106 -77 $0
5 yr (2031) ~1,058 -125 $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.

Delano High School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · Delano · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Delano High School sits near the bottom of its similar-school group (ranked #8 of 9): 11% vs. a peer median of 14%.
  • Its UC Reach has risen 2 points since 2018.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Delano High School is admitting at roughly +16 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (3.915) alone would predict (36% actual vs. 20% 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 12% (323→283 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +14%.
  • At its recent rate (-2.2%/yr), enrollment projects to ~1106 by 2029 — about 77 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

1183 students (2026)
~1106 projected (2029)
at -2.2%/yr

That's about 77 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
Delano High School Public 1183 11.1% -12%
Peer-group median 14.3% +14%
Cesar E Chavez High School Public 1284 12.3% -14%
Robert F Kennedy High School Public 1406 12.5% +30%
Mcfarland High School Early College Public 1017 +29%
Wonderful College Prep Academy Public 1861 34.1% +40%
Wasco High Public 1656 +3%
Granite Hills High Public 1131 16.4% -3%
Shafter High School Public 1670 6.7% +24%
Monache High School Public 1862 12.7% -3%
Corcoran High School Public 940 15.9% +20%
Lindsay High School Public 1064 19.8% +9%

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.

Critical
Sharp demand downturn hidden by elite retention.

Delano High School's enrollment is shrinking far faster than Kern County (school -12.4% vs. county +12.7%). Stability of 91.9% 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.

-12.4%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+12.7%  Kern County baseline
-25.1pp  gap vs. county
91.9%  retention (county median 84.4%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
91.9%
1,174 of 1,277 students

103 of 1,277 students who enrolled at Delano High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (8.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Kern County median
84.4% · school is in the 91st percentile of 47 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 76th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (1,198) 92.1%
Hispanic / Latino (1,147) 91.9%
English learners (374) 88.2%
Filipino (102) 92.2%
Students w/ disabilities (102) 92.2%

Nearest peer high schools

Cesar E Chavez High School 90.7% Robert F Kennedy High School 91.0% Mcfarland High School Early College 91.7% Wonderful College Prep Academy 94.6% Wasco High 84.0%

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 — Delano Joint 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
$84.2M
+16.8% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$19,937
4,222 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 68.0%
Local: 17.3%
Federal: 14.7%
Instruction share
51.4%
of current spending · $7,925/pupil
Long-term debt
$38.0M
-13.9% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Delano Joint 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).

What This Means

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.
Fewer than 15% of seniors are earning UC admission. This may reflect a high non-UC college-going rate, significant A-G completion gaps, or an early-stage UC pipeline. A deeper review of A-G readiness and counseling capacity is warranted.
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.
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 Kern County rankings →

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