Ernest Righetti High: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
Ernest Righetti posts 42% meeting the standard against 36% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 48 | 17% | 42% | 95.4% | 39.1% | 23.2% | 6.9% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 87.6% | 35.4% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Ernest Righetti High scores 48 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 57th 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 “42% proficient” and call it done. Ernest Righetti deserves a closer read. The school sits in Santa Maria, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Ernest Righetti's low-income kids hit 53.9% 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 stayed near the 57th percentile since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 42% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 62% | 53% | 49% | 62% | 61% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 23% | 19% | 18% | 20% | 23% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 42 are proficient by 11th grade → 95 graduate → 39 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
Ernest Righetti's most underrated number
53.9% 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 7 things our score weighs
Ask how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- Ask what share of students complete the full college-prep course sequence, and who gets steered into 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 Ernest Righetti High in Santa Maria, 53.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 44.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Ernest Righetti High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 9.6 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (17.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (58.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 43.1 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 351 students tested.
6 of 17 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Showing up, and staying in class
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$835 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
At 2,416 students, this school is well above the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 31% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ernest Righetti High a good high school?
What are Ernest Righetti High's CAASPP test scores?
How does Ernest Righetti High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Ernest Righetti High?
How does Ernest Righetti High compare to other schools in Santa Maria?
How does Ernest Righetti High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
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 | 547 | 26% | 35% | 22% | 18% | 61% | +13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 544 | 8% | 14% | 28% | 50% | 23% | −1 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 562 | 5% | 26% | 60% | 9% |
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 | 351 | 53.9% | +10 | +16 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 405 | 58.5% | +12 | +20 |
| White | 100 | 62.0% | +2 | +0 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ernest Righetti High ← | — | 48 | 17.0% | 41.6% | — | 6.9% |
| Delta High | 1.4 mi | 28 | 0.5% | 9.0% | — | 1.5% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 52 | 62 | #772 | 14.9% | 42.4% | 14.6% | 0.5% | — |
| 2022 | 47 | 60 | #848 | 13.4% | 36.1% | 27.6% | 4.8% | — |
| 2023 | 46 | 55 | #960 | 12.4% | 33.7% | 25.1% | 5.5% | — |
| 2024 | 49 | 64 | #776 | 16.9% | 41.0% | 21.0% | 5.2% | — |
| 2025 | 48 | 57 | #930 | 17.0% | 41.6% | 23.2% | 6.9% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 15.3% | 24.1% | +8.8pp |
| Male | 13.2% | 22.0% | +8.8pp |
| Asian | 3.6% | 17.8% | +14.2pp |
| Black/African American | 19.5% | 27.8% | +8.3pp |
| Filipino | 14.3% | 9.1% | -5.2pp |
| White | 5.1% | 21.6% | +16.5pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 14.5% | 23.7% | +9.2pp |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 33.3% | 23.5% | -9.8pp |
| Two or More Races | 5.1% | 22.2% | +17.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 19.3% | 30.1% | +10.8pp |
| English Learners | 14.7% | 26.6% | +11.9pp |
| Foster Youth | 51.9% | 30.0% | -21.9pp |
| Homeless | 18.8% | 29.1% | +10.3pp |
| Military-Connected | 9.4% | 23.9% | +14.5pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 16.6% | 26.4% | +9.8pp |
| All Students | 14.2% | 23.0% | +8.8pp |
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