Liberty High

· Madera County · Golden Valley Unified
Public Madera County 🏛 Golden Valley Unified → ~173 seniors CDS 2075580…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Central High School → University High School → Erma Duncan Polytechnical High → Fowler High School → Washington High → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
541 (2018)775 (2026)
+43.3%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
125 (2018)199 (2026)
+59.2%

If this trend holds (+4.6%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~811 +36 $0
3 yr (2029) ~887 +112 $0
5 yr (2031) ~970 +195 $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 Madera County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Healthy
Best in class — winning on demand and retention.

Liberty High outperformed Madera County on enrollment (school +59.2% vs. county +6.9%) AND maintains 89.4% stability. Replicable model — worth documenting what's working.

+59.2%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+6.9%  Madera County baseline
+52.3pp  gap vs. county
89.4%  retention (county median 86.3%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
89.4%
706 of 790 students

84 of 790 students who enrolled at Liberty High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (10.6% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Madera County median
86.3% · school is in the 100th percentile of 10 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 62nd percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Hispanic / Latino (389) 89.7%
White (321) 91.0%
Socio. disadvantaged (308) 85.7%
Students w/ disabilities (93) 83.9%
English learners (41) 73.2%
Asian (38) 92.1%

Nearest peer high schools

Central High School 87.9% University High School 97.6% Erma Duncan Polytechnical High 94.0% Fowler High School 92.3% Washington High 87.6%

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
13.9%
107 of 768 students

Absenteeism is up 6.4 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Madera County median
30.5% · school is better than 100% of 10 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 = 192
67.2%
incl. 34.9% exceeded
+12.9 pts above Madera County median (54.3%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 192
28.1%
incl. 9.4% exceeded
+14.0 pts above Madera County median (14.1%) · 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

Hispanic / Latino 49% +1.3
White 40% -2.6
Asian 6% +2.1
Two or more 1%
Filipino 1%
Black / African Am. 1%
American Indian 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 32% -6.7
Socioeconomically disadv. 11% -2.4

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 — Golden Valley 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
$33.3M
+29.2% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$15,940
2,089 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 45.9%
Local: 47.3%
Federal: 6.8%
Instruction share
51.4%
of current spending · $6,590/pupil
Long-term debt
$97.2M
+59.7% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Golden Valley 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
12%
21 admits / 173 seniors
On the peer median (12.5%) · Ranked #4 of 7 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 14.5% 2025 · 12.1%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Peer median
12.5%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
12.1%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 12.1%

Higher than 28% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Liberty High's UC Reach of 12.1% is below the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.

Overall, Liberty High's UC Reach is higher than 28% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

UC Application Reach
42.2%
73 applications
In context: CA median 78.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 245.8% · higher than 20% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
28.8%
21 / 73 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 64% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
19.0%
4 enrolled of 21 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
2.3%
4 enrollees / 173 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
388:1
2.0 FTE counselors · 775 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 50 more students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
58%
91 of 156 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · +2.4 pp above · Madera Co. 48.0%.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
8.1
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.7 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.4 · higher than 14% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
N/A
Senior Class Size
173
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
748
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
1.23
65th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships

Liberty High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Liberty High sits in the middle of its similar-school group (ranked #4 of 7): 12% vs. a peer median of 12%.
  • Its UC Reach has risen 10 points since 2018.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Liberty High is admitting at roughly +14 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (4.169) alone would predict (48% actual vs. 34% 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 up 59% (125→199 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -1%.
  • Enrollment has been growing (+4.6%/yr); projects to ~887 by 2029.

Enrollment projection

775 students (2026)
~887 projected (2029)
at +4.6%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Liberty High Public 775 12.1% +59%
Peer-group median 12.5% -1%
Central High School Public 908 6.1% -31%
University High School Public 501 106.6% +4%
Erma Duncan Polytechnical High Public 1189 +29%
Fowler High School Public 796 25.6% +8%
Washington High Public 1065 +24%
Central East High School Public 1729 7.5% -53%
Cambridge Continuation High Public 447 -8%
Endeavor Charter Public 343 +338%
Madera South High School Public 1810 14.0% -31%
Justin Garza High School Public 1818 11.0% -6%

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
4.17
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.29

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 San Diego 4.13 25.0% 17.6% +7.4pp Over
UC Santa Barbara 4.27 66.7% 55.8% +10.8pp Over
UC Irvine 4.16 35.7% 33.5% +2.2pp On target
UC Davis 4.14 77.8% 34.2% +43.6pp 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 Liberty High sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 13.8 points above what their GPAs predict (47.7% actual vs. 33.9% 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 13 4.15
UCLA → Elite 16 4.20
UC San Diego → Selective 12 3 25.0% 1.7% 4.13
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 9 6 66.7% 3.5% 4.27 4.31
UC Irvine → Selective 14 5 35.7% 2.9% 4.16 4.31
UC Davis → 9 7 4 77.8% 4.0% 57.1% 4.14 4.25
⚠ 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 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.
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 Madera County rankings →

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