Desert Hot Springs High: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Desert Hot Springs posts 29% meeting the standard and 11.2% exceeding it, against 36% and 15.8% statewide. The gaps and the bright spots below are the real read.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 42 | 11% | 29% | 88.2% | 53.5% | 42.4% | 5.4% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 87.6% | 35.4% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Desert Hot Springs High scores 42 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 42nd percentile of 2,160 California high schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).
Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →
🌱 Building Momentum — This label means the data doesn't clearly sort the school one way or the other — ask what the school is proud of, and what it's working on.
Most rating sites would stop at “29% proficient” and call it done. Desert Hot Springs deserves a closer read. The school sits in Desert Hot Springs, where nearly all students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 42nd percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 29% of students meet the standard today, above the 25% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 36% | 33% | 41% | 55% | 47% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 14% | 10% | 12% | 19% | 12% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 29 are proficient by 11th grade → 88 graduate → 54 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
The 7 things our score weighs
Ask what the school is working on next. Strong numbers tell you where a school is, not where it's going.
- Ask how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
- Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
- Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
- Ask what a typical day looks like for a new student in the first few weeks.
How every group of students does here
At Desert Hot Springs High in Desert Hot Springs, 47.3% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 35.8% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Desert Hot Springs High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 11.5 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (12.3% Math proficient); Hispanic students (44.8% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 36.8 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 309 students tested.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$307 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
On the state's science test (CAST), 12% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Desert Hot Springs High a good high school?
What are Desert Hot Springs High's CAASPP test scores?
How does Desert Hot Springs High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Desert Hot Springs High?
How does Desert Hot Springs High compare to other schools in Desert Hot Springs?
How does Desert Hot Springs High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 32
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 20
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 320 | 18% | 29% | 25% | 28% | 47% | −1 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 321 | 5% | 7% | 23% | 64% | 12% | −11 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 321 | 3% | 9% | 69% | 19% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 309 | 47.3% | +11 | +9 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 270 | 44.8% | +11 | +6 |
| English Learners | 82 | 9.8% | +1 | −1 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Hot Springs High ← | — | 42 | 11.2% | 29.4% | — | 5.4% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 41 | 39 | #1243 | 5.6% | 24.7% | 28.9% | 10.8% | — |
| 2022 | 38 | 37 | #1321 | 5.5% | 21.4% | 41.9% | 10.0% | — |
| 2023 | 40 | 41 | #1271 | 8.5% | 26.6% | 47.6% | 10.3% | — |
| 2024 | 43 | 48 | #1118 | 10.9% | 36.8% | 46.3% | 7.3% | — |
| 2025 | 42 | 42 | #1251 | 11.2% | 29.4% | 42.4% | 5.4% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 28.5% | 45.0% | +16.5pp |
| Male | 29.4% | 41.0% | +11.6pp |
| Asian | 0.0% | — | — |
| Black/African American | 40.9% | 56.0% | +15.1pp |
| White | 33.3% | — | — |
| Hispanic/Latino | 26.9% | 40.7% | +13.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 41.2% | 48.1% | +6.9pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 47.4% | 51.3% | +3.9pp |
| English Learners | 30.8% | 42.6% | +11.8pp |
| Foster Youth | 30.0% | 61.9% | +31.9pp |
| Homeless | 41.7% | 45.9% | +4.2pp |
| Military-Connected | 0.0% | 35.3% | +35.3pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 28.8% | 43.2% | +14.4pp |
| All Students | 29.0% | 42.9% | +13.9pp |
SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction