Sequoia High School
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Most similar nearby schools
Woodside High School → Palo Alto Senior High School → Palo Alto High → Menlo Atherton High School → Carlmont High School → Compare all similar →Enrollment trend & projection
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) | ~1,805 | -34 | $0 |
| 3 yr (2029) | ~1,740 | -99 | $0 |
| 5 yr (2031) | ~1,676 | -163 | $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 Mateo County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.
Enrollment and retention both close to San Mateo County baseline. The demographic tide is the main mover; no internal break in the system, but no outperformance either. Chronic absenteeism is rising (25.4%, +8.8 pts since 2016-17) — a watch signal worth monitoring as a leading indicator.
140 of 1,932 students who enrolled at Sequoia High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (7.2% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.
Stability by student group
Nearest peer high schools
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.
Absenteeism is up 8.8 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.
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.
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
Program subgroups
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 — Sequoia 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.
Local: 79.5%
Federal: 3.9%
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 Sequoia 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).
-17.6 pp vs. peer median (38.9%) · Ranked #9 of 9 similar schools
18.5%
38.9%
53.3%
21.3%
Higher than 57% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)
Sequoia High School's UC Reach of 21.3% is above the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.
But in San Mateo County, where the local median is 29.6% and the top-10% bar is 65.8%, this score is mid-pack rather than exceptional — typical of its market rather than a standout.
Against similar schools, Sequoia High School trails the peer-group median (38.9%) — even though it looks strong vs. the state average.
For context, the elite tier (top 1%) clears 102.7% — a gap of 81 pp from where this school sits.
Overall, Sequoia High School's UC Reach is higher than 57% of California high schools (1105 ranked).
Sequoia High School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot
Public · Redwood City · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools
- ▸On UC Reach, Sequoia High School sits near the bottom of its similar-school group (ranked #9 of 9): 21% vs. a peer median of 39%.
- ▸Its UC Reach has slipped 2 points since 2018 — worth watching.
- ▸Senior-class enrollment is down 5% (496→471 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of -1%.
- ▸At its recent rate (-1.8%/yr), enrollment projects to ~1740 by 2029 — about 99 fewer students than today.
Enrollment projection
That's about 99 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sequoia High School | Public | 1839 | 21.3% | -5% |
| Peer-group median | 38.9% | -1% | ||
| Woodside High School | Public | 1694 | 31.7% | -2% |
| Palo Alto Senior High School | Public | 1828 | 69.9% | -8% |
| Palo Alto High | Public | 1828 | — | -2% |
| Menlo Atherton High School | Public | 2152 | 30.1% | -1% |
| Carlmont High School | Public | 2385 | 54.1% | +4% |
| Aragon High School | Public | 1654 | 53.7% | +14% |
| Hillsdale High School | Public | 1517 | 32.1% | +12% |
| Henry M. Gunn High | Public | 1606 | — | -16% |
| Burlingame High School | Public | 1627 | 44.7% | +18% |
| San Mateo High School | Public | 1532 | 33.0% | -17% |
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 →
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 | 3.98 | 18.4% | 12.4% | +6.0pp | Over |
| UCLA | 3.99 | 8.1% | 9.2% | -1.1pp | On target |
| UC San Diego | 3.97 | 17.2% | 20.7% | -3.4pp | On target |
| UC Santa Barbara | 3.99 | 19.4% | 32.0% | -12.6pp | Under |
| UC Irvine | 4.00 | 14.3% | 26.6% | -12.4pp | Under |
| UC Davis | 3.94 | 29.7% | 32.5% | -2.8pp | On target |
Where Sequoia High School sits vs. all California schools ⓘ
Overall, this school admits its UC applicants in line with what their GPAs predict (18.0% actual vs. 22.4% expected).
UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025
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 | 87 | 16 | 10 | 18.4% | 3.4% | 62.5% | 3.98 | 4.26 |
| UCLA → Elite | 99 | 8 | 3 | 8.1% | 1.7% | 37.5% | 3.99 | 4.29 |
| UC San Diego → Selective | 93 | 16 | — | 17.2% | 3.4% | — | 3.97 | 4.25 |
| UC Santa Barbara → Selective | 103 | 20 | — | 19.4% | 4.2% | — | 3.99 | 4.30 |
| UC Irvine → Selective | 77 | 11 | — | 14.3% | 2.3% | — | 4.00 | 4.24 |
| UC Davis → | 101 | 30 | 4 | 29.7% | 6.3% | 13.3% | 3.94 | 4.21 |