High Tech High International

San Diego · San Diego County · San Diego Unified
Public San Diego County 🏛 San Diego Unified → ~83 seniors CDS 3768338…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

High Tech High Media Arts → High Tech High School → E3 Civic High → Kearny Digital Media & Design → Urban Discovery Academy Charter → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
402 (2018)348 (2026)
-13.4%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
99 (2018)86 (2026)
-13.1%

If this trend holds (-1.8%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~342 -6 $0
3 yr (2029) ~330 -18 $0
5 yr (2031) ~318 -30 $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 San Diego County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Action needed
Strong inside, weak at the gate.

Families who enroll at High Tech High International stay (95.9% stability — elite). But enrollment is dropping 1.7× the county rate (school -13.1% vs. county -7.8%). The audit question isn't why students leave — it's why fewer families are choosing to enroll in the first place.

-13.1%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-7.8%  San Diego County baseline
-5.3pp  gap vs. county
95.9%  retention (county median 88.5%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
95.9%
349 of 364 students

15 of 364 students who enrolled at High Tech High International this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (4.1% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Diego County median
88.5% · school is in the 90th percentile of 121 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 93rd percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Hispanic / Latino (198) 96.5%
Socio. disadvantaged (195) 96.4%
White (88) 92.0%
Students w/ disabilities (72) 91.7%
English learners (26) 92.3%
Black / African Am. (22) 100.0%

Nearest peer high schools

High Tech High Media Arts 87.2% High Tech High School 93.6% E3 Civic High 88.8% Kearny Digital Media & Design 67.6% Urban Discovery Academy Charter 74.1%

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
15.0%
54 of 361 students

Absenteeism is up 10.3 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Diego County median
18.9% · school is better than 69% of 117 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 = 81
75.3%
incl. 35.8% exceeded
+14.7 pts above San Diego County median (60.6%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 83
41.0%
incl. 18.1% exceeded
+16.6 pts above San Diego County median (24.4%) · 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 55%
White 24%
Black / African Am. 7% +1.9
Filipino 5% +2.1
Asian 4% +2.7
Two or more 4% -7.4
Pacific Islander 1%
American Indian 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 47% +4.6
Socioeconomically disadv. 17% -2.0

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 — San Diego 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
$2239.7M
+17.1% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$22,861
97,968 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 24.2%
Local: 65.2%
Federal: 10.6%
Instruction share
58.6%
of current spending · $9,592/pupil
Long-term debt
$5186.5M
+29.3% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 San Diego 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
19%
16 admits / 83 seniors
On the peer median (19.1%) · Ranked #4 of 8 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 52.1% 2025 · 19.3%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
19.3%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 19.3%

Higher than 53% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

High Tech High International's UC Reach of 19.3% 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 83 pp from where this school sits.

Overall, High Tech High International's UC Reach is higher than 53% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

UC Application Reach
139.8%
116 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% · San Diego Co. Top 10% ≥ 216.5% · higher than 74% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
13.8%
16 / 116 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 1% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
18.8%
3 enrolled of 16 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
3.6%
3 enrollees / 83 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.
A-G Completion
96%
79 of 82 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +40.4 pp above · San Diego Co. 63.4%.
UC 6-Yr Grad Rate
71%
54% finished in 4 yrs · N=24 entered 2017
In context: CA median 87.5% · -16.7 pp vs. median.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
13.3
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.7 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.4 · higher than 42% 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
83
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
359
All grades · CDE Census Day

High Tech High International — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · San Diego · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, High Tech High International sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #4 of 8): 19% vs. a peer median of 19%.
  • Its UC Reach has slipped 18 points since 2018 — worth watching.
  • Senior-class enrollment is down 13% (99→86 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of -6%.
  • At its recent rate (-1.8%/yr), enrollment projects to ~330 by 2029 — about 18 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

348 students (2026)
~330 projected (2029)
at -1.8%/yr

That's about 18 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
High Tech High International Public 348 19.3% -13%
Peer-group median 19.1% -6%
High Tech High Media Arts Public 346 36.7% -6%
High Tech High School Public 394 41.0% -18%
E3 Civic High Public 344 10.5% -7%
Kearny Digital Media & Design Public 335 15.7% +2%
Urban Discovery Academy Charter Public 310 -33%
Kearny College Connections Public 319 19.1% -8%
America's Finest Charter Public 334 -6%
Kearny Eng Innov & Design Public 283 7.7% +10%
John Muir Language Academy Public 418
High Tech High Mesa Public 432 38.8% +3%

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
3.93
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.21

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 4.00 22.2% 12.6% +9.6pp Over
UC San Diego 3.93 12.5% 21.5% -9.0pp Under
UC Santa Barbara 3.81 15.8% 26.7% -10.9pp Under
UC Davis 4.13 62.5% 34.2% +28.3pp Over
"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 High Tech High International sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (20.8% actual vs. 22.0% 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 18 4 3 22.2% 4.8% 75.0% 4.00
UCLA → Elite 22 3.92
UC San Diego → Selective 32 4 12.5% 4.8% 3.93
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 19 3 15.8% 3.6% 3.81
UC Irvine → Selective 17 3.92
UC Davis → 8 5 62.5% 6.0% 4.13 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.
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.
Compare with other schools → See San Diego County rankings →

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