Sonora High

· Tuolumne County · Sonora Union High · Public

Public Tuolumne County 🏛 Sonora Union High → ~202 seniors CDS 5572389…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

📖10 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 10 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 4 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 70th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 29% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 92% (60th percentile nationally)

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

🎓 Where grads go

12.9% UC Reach — top-6 UC admits per 100 seniors in the Class of 2025. Counts each campus admit, so multi-admits count more than once.

UC admits by campus · Class of 2025

UCB
4 admitted
3 enrolled
UCSD
3 admitted
UCSB
6 admitted
UCI
6 admitted
UCD
7 admitted

Source: University of California Office of the President, Admissions by Source School. Full campus-by-campus breakdown below.

💡

How Sonora High compares for families

Real college outcomes data available below.

  • Statewide12.9% UC Reach — 5.2 points below the California median of 18.1%.
  • vs Similar SchoolsBeats the peer median (12.9% UC Reach vs 7.3% median) across the 5 most similar nearby schools.

For Parents

📬

Follow Sonora High

Get an email when Sonora High's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

70th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
10
Math ✓
Advanced math classes
3
2 calculus · 1 advanced
Lab science classes
5
1 physics · 4 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 29% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
27
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
3.1
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?

60th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
92%
Range: 90–94%
4-year cohort size
196
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

Title I Targeted Assistance eligible

35-39% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Targeted Assistance

38.3%
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)

35-39% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school can receive Title I funds targeted to identified students (not schoolwide).

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.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

University of California-Berkeley

12%
admit rate
$16,347
in-state tuition/yr · $50,547 out-of-state

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $13,481/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of California-Berkeley profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

📊 Key takeaway · Class of 2025

Sonora High sent 60 applications to the six most selective University of California campuses and 43.3% were admitted, producing a UC Reach of 12.9%5.2 percentage points below the California median of 18.1%, higher than 31% of California high schools. The school produces 2.0 UCLA + UC Berkeley admits per 100 seniors.

University of California outcomes · Class of 2025
UC Reach
13%
26 admits / 202 seniors
+5.6 pp above peer median (7.3%) · Ranked #1 of 8 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 5.9% 2025 · 12.9%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.1%
Peer median
7.3%
Top 10%
51.2%
This school
12.9%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.1% Top 10% ≥ 51.2% This school 12.9%

Higher than 31% of California high schools (978 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Sonora High's UC Reach of 12.9% is below the California median (18.1%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 51.2% or higher.

Overall, Sonora High's UC Reach is higher than 31% of California high schools (978 ranked).

UC Application Reach
29.7%
60 applications
In context: CA median 74.9% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 241.0% · higher than 8% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
43.3%
26 / 60 applications
In context: CA median 26.1% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 92% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
11.5%
3 enrolled of 26 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
1.5%
3 enrollees / 202 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
279:1
3.0 FTE counselors · 837 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 59 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
26%
50 of 190 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · -29.6 pp vs. median · Tuolumne Co. 26.3%.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
9.4
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.4 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 41.5 · higher than 20% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
2.0
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 3.3 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 9.7 · higher than 27% of CA HS.
Senior Class Size
202
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
880
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
0.98
45th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships
Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs
4.16
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.23

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 Sonora High
Campus 4.00+ GPA 3.70–3.99 GPA 3.30–3.69 GPA < 3.30 GPA
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 Santa Barbara 4.17 4.27 +0.11 60.0% Peers +0.17 · wider
UC Irvine 4.06 4.13 +0.07 66.7% Peers +0.19 · wider
UC Davis 4.11 4.27 +0.16 63.6% Peers +0.16 · matches
📊 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 Sonora High sits vs. all California schools

Overall, this school admits its UC applicants 23.4 points above what their GPAs predict (53.1% actual vs. 29.6% 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 9 4 3 44.4% 2.0% 75.0% 4.26
UCLA → Elite 11 4.26
UC San Diego → Selective 10 3 30.0% 1.5% 4.08
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 10 6 60.0% 3.0% 4.17 4.27
UC Irvine → Selective 9 6 66.7% 3.0% 4.06 4.13
UC Davis → 11 7 63.6% 3.5% 4.11 4.27
= 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 = 175
65.7%
incl. 30.3% exceeded
+11.9 pts above Tuolumne County median (53.8%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 175
29.1%
incl. 7.4% exceeded
+7.9 pts above Tuolumne County median (21.2%) · 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 64%
Hispanic / Latino 22%
Two or more 6%
Not reported 4% +1.8
American Indian 1%
Black / African Am. 1%
Asian 1%
Filipino 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 37% -3.3
Socioeconomically disadv. 17%

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
26.7%
239 of 896 students

Absenteeism is up 10.6 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

Tuolumne County median
24.5% · school is worse than 50% of 4 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)
979 (2018)837 (2026)
-14.5%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
202 (2018)185 (2026)
-8.4%

If this trend holds (-1.9%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~821 -16 $0
3 yr (2029) ~789 -48 $0
5 yr (2031) ~759 -78 $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.

Sonora High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Sonora High sits near the top of its similar-school group (ranked #1 of 8): 13% vs. a peer median of 7%.
  • Its UC Reach has risen 5 points since 2018.
  • Across the top-6 UC campuses, Sonora High is admitting at roughly +23 percentage points above what its average applicant GPA (4.135) alone would predict (53% actual vs. 30% 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 8% (202→185 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of +2%.
  • At its recent rate (-1.9%/yr), enrollment projects to ~789 by 2029 — about 48 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

837 students (2026)
~789 projected (2029)
at -1.9%/yr

That's about 48 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
Sonora High Public 837 12.9% -8%
Peer-group median 7.3% +2%
Summerville High Public 563 +9%
Bret Harte Union High School Public 572 3.1% -18%
Gold Rush Home Study Charter Public 421 -15%
Calaveras High School Public 667 3.2% -35%
Riverbank High School Public 826 11.8% +23%
Connecting Waters Charter Sch Public 697 7.0% -66%
Escalon High School Public 776 9.4% -5%
Hughson High School Public 902 12.2% +55%
Linden High School Public 774 7.3% +21%
Connecting Waters Charter School - Central Valley Public 747 +1633%

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 Tuolumne 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 Sonora High stay (84.8% stability — elite). But enrollment is dropping 1.5× the county rate (school -8.4% vs. county -5.7%). The audit question isn't why students leave — it's why fewer families are choosing to enroll in the first place.

-8.4%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
-5.7%  Tuolumne County baseline
-2.7pp  gap vs. county
84.8%  retention (county median 76.8%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
84.8%
788 of 929 students

141 of 929 students who enrolled at Sonora High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (15.2% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Tuolumne County median
76.8% · school is in the 75th percentile of 4 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 41st percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

White (570) 84.4%
Socio. disadvantaged (414) 78.0%
Hispanic / Latino (218) 86.7%
Students w/ disabilities (161) 80.7%
Two or more races (58) 82.8%
English learners (20) 95.0%

Nearest peer high schools

Summerville High 89.6% Bret Harte Union High School 90.7% Gold Rush Home Study Charter 68.8% Calaveras High School 82.5% Riverbank High School 91.6%

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.

District financial profile — Sonora 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
$17.5M
+13.0% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,129
1,022 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 21.1%
Local: 68.5%
Federal: 10.4%
Instruction share
49.9%
of current spending · $7,335/pupil
Long-term debt
$21.7M
-1.3% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Sonora 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

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 Tuolumne County rankings →

For School Admins

The full Reach Report for Sonora High

A board- and LCAP-ready intelligence brief: your enrollment retention and college outcomes, benchmarked against your closest competitors, with a 5-year forecast, concrete steps to act on, and the rigor + outcomes story you can share with your families. Built from primary public data — prepared for you, not auto-generated.

  • Your UC Reach (12.9%) ranked head-to-head against your closest competitor schools
  • Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -1.9%/yr) with the revenue at stake
  • Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals
See a sample report →

For Parents

Researching colleges for your kid at Sonora High?

Get a personalized College Plan Audit — find Reach, Target, and Safety colleges matched to your kid's GPA, test scores, intended major, and your family's budget. Free.

Start the College Plan Audit →

For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →