Yucca Valley High School

Yucca Valley · San Bernardino County · Morongo Unified
Public San Bernardino County 🏛 Morongo Unified → ~268 seniors CDS 3667777…
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Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Desert Hot Springs Hs → Cathedral City High School → Rancho Mirage High School → Palm Springs High School → Twentynine Palms High School → Compare all similar →

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)
1,417 (2018)1,149 (2026)
-18.9%
Grade 12 (graduating class)
309 (2018)253 (2026)
-18.1%

If this trend holds (-2.6%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon Projected Total enrollment Change Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027) ~1,119 -30 $0
3 yr (2029) ~1,062 -87 $0
5 yr (2031) ~1,008 -141 $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 Bernardino County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

Critical
Sharp demand downturn hidden by elite retention.

Yucca Valley High School's enrollment is shrinking far faster than San Bernardino County (school -18.1% vs. county +0.0%). Stability of 85.1% means every family you keep is one fewer; the leverage is at recruitment, not retention. This is the case the high stability number alone would hide. Chronic absenteeism is also at 38.6% (up +15.0 pts from 2016-17) — engagement and demand are both signaling decline.

-18.1%  school enrollment (2018–2026)
+0.0%  San Bernardino County baseline
-18.1pp  gap vs. county
85.1%  retention (county median 80.5%)
Enrollment — indexed to 100 at 2018
Stability rate by year (raw %)
Stability rate
85.1%
1,076 of 1,265 students

189 of 1,265 students who enrolled at Yucca Valley High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (14.9% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Bernardino County median
80.5% · school is in the 73rd percentile of 99 HS
Statewide median
87.2% · in the 42nd percentile of 1,688 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (863) 82.9%
White (625) 86.1%
Hispanic / Latino (507) 83.8%
Students w/ disabilities (246) 82.9%
Black / African Am. (72) 77.8%
English learners (56) 71.4%

Nearest peer high schools

Desert Hot Springs Hs 81.0% Cathedral City High School 86.0% Rancho Mirage High School 86.5% Palm Springs High School 87.8% Twentynine Palms High School 81.6%

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
38.6%
471 of 1,219 students

Absenteeism is up 15.0 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Bernardino County median
26.7% · school is worse than 72% of 97 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 = 241
44.0%
incl. 16.6% exceeded
-2.3 pts vs. San Bernardino County median (46.3%) · CA median 54.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.3%
Math — met or exceeded
n = 243
17.3%
incl. 6.2% exceeded
+1.5 pts above San Bernardino County median (15.8%) · 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 53% +1.3
Hispanic / Latino 37%
Black / African Am. 5%
Asian 1%
Two or more 1%
Filipino 1%
American Indian 1%

Program subgroups

Students w/ disabilities 60% -3.7
Socioeconomically disadv. 18% +1.6
Homeless 5% +1.8
English learners 1% -2.8

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 — Morongo 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
$142.6M
+26.1% since FY2017
Per-pupil revenue
$17,809
8,005 students enrolled
Revenue mix
State: 67.1%
Local: 14.4%
Federal: 18.5%
Instruction share
58.3%
of current spending · $8,573/pupil
Long-term debt
$42.2M
-36.4% since FY2017
Total revenue by year ($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 Morongo 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
4%
11 admits / 268 seniors
-6.5 pp vs. peer median (10.6%) · Ranked #11 of 11 similar schools
5-year trend
2021 · 5.7% 2025 · 4.1%
Where this sits on the California curve
CA median
18.5%
Peer median
10.6%
Top 10%
53.3%
This school
4.1%
0%50%100%
CA median 18.5% Top 10% ≥ 53.3% This school 4.1%

Higher than 2% of California high schools (1105 ranked, ≥50 seniors)

📊 What this number means

Yucca Valley High School's UC Reach of 4.1% is below the California median (18.5%). The top 10% of CA schools achieve 53.3% or higher.

Overall, Yucca Valley High School's UC Reach is higher than 2% of California high schools (1105 ranked).

UC Application Reach
17.2%
46 applications
In context: CA median 78.3% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 245.8% · San Bernardino Co. Top 10% ≥ 128.9% · higher than 3% of CA HS.
UC Admit Rate
23.9%
11 / 46 applications
In context: CA median 26.0% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 40.5% · higher than 39% of CA HS.
UC Yield Rate
N/A
None enrolled of 11 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
N/A
None enrollees / 268 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
383:1
3.0 FTE counselors · 1,149 students
In context: CA median 338:1 · 45 more students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.
A-G Completion
28%
63 of 228 graduates · 2024-25 cohort
In context: CA median 55.9% · -28.3 pp vs. median · San Bernardino Co. 52.6%.
Selective UC Reach (UCSD, UCSB, UCI, UCD)
4.1
per 100 seniors · campus-level total
In context: CA median 15.7 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 42.4 · higher than 2% of CA HS.
Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA)
N/A
Senior Class Size
268
CDE grade 12 (exact)
Total School Enrollment
1,168
All grades · CDE Census Day
Economic Connectedness
0.85
34th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships

Yucca Valley High School — Enrollment & Outcomes Snapshot

Public · Yucca Valley · vs. 10 most similar nearby schools

  • On UC Reach, Yucca Valley High School sits near the bottom of its similar-school group (ranked #11 of 11): 4% vs. a peer median of 11%.
  • Its UC Reach has slipped 2 points since 2018 — worth watching.
  • Senior-class enrollment is down 18% (309→253 from 2018 to 2026), trailing the peer-group median of -11%.
  • At its recent rate (-2.6%/yr), enrollment projects to ~1062 by 2029 — about 87 fewer students than today.

Enrollment projection

1149 students (2026)
~1062 projected (2029)
at -2.6%/yr

That's about 87 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
Yucca Valley High School Public 1149 4.1% -18%
Peer-group median 10.6% -11%
Desert Hot Springs Hs Public 1650 15.9% -7%
Cathedral City High School Public 1267 25.1% -28%
Rancho Mirage High School Public 1435 9.6% -14%
Palm Springs High School Public 1418 21.4% -5%
Twentynine Palms High School Public 767 5.6% +2%
Banning High School Public 1152 6.3% +4%
Shadow Hills High School Public 1602 11.5% -23%
Big Bear High School Public 636 5.7% -21%
Gorman Learning Center Public 1170 4.9% -70%
Palm Desert High School Public 2107 29.1% +7%

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
3.64
Avg. Admitted GPA · top-6 UCs
4.15

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 3.88 50.0% 22.6% +27.4pp Over
UC Santa Barbara 3.58 54.5% 30.2% +24.3pp 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.

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)
UCLA → Elite 11 3.81
UC San Diego → Selective 10 5 50.0% 1.9% 3.88 4.25
UC Santa Barbara → Selective 11 6 54.5% 2.2% 3.58 4.07
UC Irvine → Selective 9 3.46
UC Davis → 5 3.27
⚠ 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 relatively small share of the senior class is entering the UC application pipeline. This may signal limited A-G completion, UC awareness gaps, or counseling capacity constraints. Broadening access is the highest-leverage opportunity for this school.
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.
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 Bernardino County rankings →

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