Wasco Independence High

· Kern County · Wasco Union High
Public Kern County 🏛 Wasco Union High → CDS 1563859…
📄 Shareable scorecard →

Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Central Valley High (continuation) → Alpaugh High School → Valley High → San Joaquin High (continuation) → Vista Continuation High → Compare all similar →

No UC admissions data on file for Wasco Independence High.

This school doesn't appear in UCOP's source-school records (it may send few or no applicants to UC). Its enrollment trend and similar-school comparison are still below.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
107 (2018)108 (2026)
+0.9%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
60 (2018)55 (2026)
-8.3%

If this trend holds (+0.1%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~108 +0 $0
3 yr (2029) ~108 +0 $0
5 yr (2031) ~109 +1 $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 Kern County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Critical
Compounding decline on both vectors.

Enrollment -8.3% vs. county +12.7% AND stability (32.3%) below the county median. Recruitment and retention both under pressure — likely a foundational rather than tactical problem. Chronic absenteeism is also at 60.7% (up -14.7 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

-8.3%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+12.7%  Kern County baseline
-21.0pp  gap vs. county
32.3%  retention (county median 84.4%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
32.3%
61 of 189 students

128 of 189 students who enrolled at Wasco Independence High this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (67.7% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

Kern County median
84.4% · school is in the 11th percentile of 47 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 8th percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (183) 31.7%
Hispanic / Latino (178) 33.1%
English learners (60) 30.0%

Nearest peer high schools

Central Valley High (continuation) 42.5% Alpaugh High School 88.0% Valley High 28.5% San Joaquin High (continuation) 29.5% Vista Continuation High 36.1%

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
60.7%
108 of 178 students

Absenteeism is down 14.7 pp since 2016-17. Engagement improving — a positive trajectory worth understanding and reinforcing.

Kern County median
19.6% · school is worse than 89% 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).

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 = 53
24.5%
incl. 3.8% exceeded
-27.2 pts vs. Kern County median (51.7%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 53
3.8%
incl. 0.0% exceeded
-9.1 pts vs. 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 95% -1.9
Black / African Am. 4%
Asian 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 93% -3.9
English learners 28%

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 — Wasco 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
$34.3M
+17.3% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,854
1,921 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 46.1%
Local: 40.4%
Federal: 13.5%
Instruction share
50.3%
of current spending · $6,747/pupil
Long-term debt
$28.7M
-7.9% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Wasco 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).

Wasco Independence High — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • Senior-class enrollment is down 8% (60→55 from 2018 to 2026), outpacing the peer-group median of -14%.

Enrollment projection

108 students (2026)
~108 projected (2029)
at +0.1%/yr

Your school vs. its 10 most similar nearby schools

School Type Size UC Reach Enroll. trend
Wasco Independence High Public 108 -8%
Peer-group median -14%
Central Valley High (continuation) Public 70 -4%
Alpaugh High School Public 117 -24%
Valley High Public 67 -22%
San Joaquin High (continuation) Public 42 +100%
Vista Continuation High Public 211 -20%
Buena Vista High (continuation) Public 73 +31%
Nueva Continuation High Public 80 -55%
Citrus High Public 145 -7%
Maricopa High School Public 78 -43%
Accelerated Charter High Public 151 -1%

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 →

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