Independence High: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
Independence posts 27% meeting the standard and 12.3% 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 | 37 | 12% | 27% | 84.4% | 7.7% | 5.9% | 0.7% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 86.6% | 33.9% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Independence High scores 37 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 33rd 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 →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “27% proficient” and call it done. Independence deserves a closer read. The school sits in Brentwood, where one in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 5.9% chronic absenteeism — versus 30.2% statewide. Attendance is the quietest strong signal a school can post.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 33rd percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 27% of students meet the standard today, above the 20% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 30% | 43% | 47% | 54% | 46% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 10% | 10% | 11% | 9% | 8% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 27 are proficient by 11th grade → 84 graduate → 8 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
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 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 Independence High in Brentwood, 42.9% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 49.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Independence High trails its district average for low-income students by 7.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (4.8% Math proficient); White students (41.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 4.8 percentage points for white students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 21 students tested.
8 of 14 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
$104 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 163 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 24% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Independence High a good high school?
What are Independence High's CAASPP test scores?
How does Independence High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Independence High?
How does Independence High compare to other schools in Brentwood?
How does Independence High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 40
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 53
Nearby Middle Schools
2 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.
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 | 65 | 20% | 26% | 26% | 28% | 46% | −1 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 65 | 5% | 3% | 20% | 72% | 8% | −16 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 66 | 5% | 20% | 70% | 6% |
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 | 21 | 42.9% | −7 | +5 |
| White | 29 | 41.4% | −25 | −20 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 23 | 56.5% | +2 | +18 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independence High ← | — | 37 | 12.3% | 26.9% | — | 0.7% |
| Liberty High | 0.1 mi | 53 | 20.4% | 44.4% | — | 4.0% |
| Freedom High | 2.5 mi | 50 | 11.2% | 33.9% | — | 5.3% |
| La Paloma High (Continuation) | 1.3 mi | 16 | 1.2% | 7.9% | — | 4.2% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 31 | 26 | #1519 | 3.0% | 19.7% | 50.2% | 1.1% | — |
| 2022 | 32 | 27 | #1539 | 6.3% | 26.4% | 62.2% | 0.7% | — |
| 2023 | 33 | 28 | #1540 | 8.1% | 29.0% | 61.6% | 0.9% | — |
| 2024 | 33 | 29 | #1527 | 8.6% | 31.6% | 65.8% | 1.0% | — |
| 2025 | 37 | 33 | #1455 | 12.3% | 26.9% | 5.9% | 0.7% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 54.0% | 0.0% | -54.0pp |
| Male | 55.0% | 0.0% | -55.0pp |
| Black/African American | 70.8% | 0.0% | -70.8pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 49.5% | 0.0% | -49.5pp |
| Two or More Races | 50.0% | 0.0% | -50.0pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 52.6% | 0.0% | -52.6pp |
| English Learners | 36.8% | — | — |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 58.2% | 0.0% | -58.2pp |
| All Students | 54.5% | 0.0% | -54.5pp |
| Homeless | — | 0.0% | — |
| Measure | This school |
|---|---|
| AP offered | not offered |
| AP course count | not reported |
| AP enrollment | not reported |
| IB participation | not offered |
| Dual enrollment | not offered |
| Algebra I in grade 8 | not reported |
| Calculus sections | 0 |
| Physics sections | 0 |
| Chemistry sections | 5 |
| Total enrollment (CRDC) | 178 |
Shown, never scored — no entry to any composite. NULL/reserve codes render "not reported," never a fabricated zero. The equity block above this table (§4) is the per-subgroup view of this same collection.
| Destination | Completers | % (derived) |
|---|---|---|
| University of California | 0 | 0.0% |
| California State University | 1 | 1.1% |
| California community college | 25 | 28.7% |
| In-state private | 1 | 1.1% |
| Out-of-state, 4-year | 3 | 3.5% |
| Out-of-state, 2-year | 1 | 1.1% |
| Not enrolled | 56 | 64.4% |
87 completers, class of 2023 · state-reported college-going rate 36% · % column is computed by SchoolScope (count ÷ completers), not a CDE-native rate · a missing cell is CDE suppression, never a fabricated zero · source: CDE 12-mo CGR, 2023 cohort (the newest published), National Student Clearinghouse match — a different, older vintage than the fall 2025 UC admissions rows in tables 06-07 above.
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