Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy posts 66.7% exceeding the standard — versus 15.8% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 87 | 67% | 92% | 100.0% | 100.0% | 8.2% | 0.6% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 87.6% | 35.4% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy scores 87 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 99th 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 →
⭐ High Ceiling — Ask what happens for a kid who shows up behind — a high ceiling for the top can sit right next to thin support at the bottom, and the score alone won't show you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “92% proficient” and call it done. Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy deserves a closer read. The school sits in Gilroy, where one in three students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy's low-income kids hit 97.0% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 99th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 92% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 96% | 100% | 100% | 99% | 99% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 91% | 95% | 89% | 83% | 86% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 92 are proficient by 11th grade → 100 graduate → 100 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy's most underrated number
97.0% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 6 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 whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- 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 Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy in Gilroy, 97.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 29.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy outperforms its district average for low-income students by 67.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (78.8% Math proficient); Hispanic students (97.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 7.3 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 33 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
These measure different things: this figure is spending attributed to this campus, while district-wide figures also include central administration, districtwide programs, and the state's pension contributions made on the district's behalf — costs that never get assigned to a single school. The district number runs higher at nearly every school, not just this one.
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
At 304 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 86% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy a good high school?
What are Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy's CAASPP test scores?
How does Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy?
How does Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy compare to other schools in Gilroy?
How does Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 40
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
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 | 72 | 78% | 21% | 1% | 0% | 99% | +51 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 72 | 56% | 31% | 11% | 3% | 86% | +63 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 72 | 51% | 35% | 14% | 0% |
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 | 33 | 97.0% | +67 | +59 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 36 | 97.2% | +65 | +58 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. TJ Owens Gilroy Early College Academy ← | — | 87 | 66.7% | 92.4% | — | 0.6% |
| Gilroy High | 2.1 mi | 45 | 8.4% | 23.8% | — | 5.9% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 89 | 99 | #5 | 72.0% | 93.3% | 8.2% | 2.8% | — |
| 2022 | 88 | 99 | #6 | 81.0% | 97.6% | 10.0% | 1.9% | — |
| 2023 | 87 | 99 | #7 | 68.0% | 94.5% | 10.5% | 0.9% | — |
| 2024 | 86 | 99 | #8 | 65.0% | 90.7% | 8.2% | 1.3% | — |
| 2025 | 87 | 99 | #7 | 66.7% | 92.4% | 8.2% | 0.6% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 6.0% | 2.8% | -3.2pp |
| Male | 2.9% | 3.3% | +0.4pp |
| Asian | 5.1% | 2.9% | -2.2pp |
| White | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 6.0% | 4.1% | -1.9pp |
| Two or More Races | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 5.2% | 2.9% | -2.3pp |
| All Students | 4.6% | 3.3% | -1.3pp |
| Filipino | — | 0.0% | — |
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