La Serna High: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
La Serna posts 57% meeting the standard, and 29.9% going well past it. Most kids here keep up. Fewer get pushed further. Ask the school what it does for a child who already finds the work easy.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 61 | 30% | 57% | 97.1% | 66.9% | 14.6% | 1.8% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 86.6% | 33.9% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
La Serna High scores 61 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 86th 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 →
💪 Strong All-Around — Ask about what we don't score — class size, electives, the feel of a classroom — strong numbers everywhere on paper don't mean every classroom feels the same.
Most rating sites would stop at “57% proficient” and call it done. La Serna deserves a closer read. The school sits in Whittier, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
La Serna's low-income kids hit 63.6% 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 86th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 57% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 71% | 74% | 71% | 74% | 71% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 38% | 42% | 37% | 43% | 43% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 57 are proficient by 11th grade → 97 graduate → 67 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
La Serna's most underrated number
63.6% 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 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 La Serna High in Whittier, 63.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 60.4% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. La Serna High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 3.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (35.3% Math proficient); Hispanic students (68.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 71.3 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 341 students tested.
5 of 15 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
● share of AP enrollment vs share of total enrollment, this school only · not part of the Scope Score
Data source: U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection, 2020-21 (biennial; newest published)
Showing up, and staying in class
Where graduates go
Where they went after graduation
Of La Serna's class of 2023, 81% enrolled in college somewhere within a year — a CSU, a community college, a UC, or out of state.
Class of 2023: 558 completers, 81% enrolled somewhere within a year
Percentages are computed by SchoolScope (count ÷ completers) from CDE-reported counts, not a CDE-native rate.
Data source: California Department of Education, 2023 cohort — the newest published; National Student Clearinghouse match.
In fall 2025, 41 of La Serna's 537 graduates enrolled in the University of California system — Riverside the most common landing, with 9 enrollees.
campuses never sum to the universitywide figure — students apply to several
Peak: 59 enrolled, 2016
UC publishes this trend back to 1994 — no other destination has a comparable multi-year record
UC is one road of many — the full destination mix for the class of 2023 is below. And who applied isn't who the school taught: the ratio between the two reflects the self-selected pool of students who chose to apply, not what happened in the classroom. By the state's 2023 count, 81% of this class's predecessors enrolled in college somewhere within a year. More of the class of 2023 enrolled at community colleges (208) than at UC (52).
Data source: University of California Office of the President (UC Information Center), fall 2025 admissions cycle · college-going rate: California Department of Education, 2023 cohort.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
La Serna's teachers are authorized to teach 23 of the 40 AP subjects the College Board offers — above the 14-subject median among California schools that offer AP at all — including Calculus BC, Calculus AB, and Physics 1.
Data source: College Board AP Course Audit, 2025 - 2026 audit year (authorization, not enrollment) · IB World Schools directory, name-matched · structural depth: 2020-21 federal snapshot, table 09
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.
$231 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 2,372 students, this school is well above the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 57% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 and once in high school, and it never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is La Serna High a good high school?
What are La Serna High's CAASPP test scores?
How does La Serna High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at La Serna High?
How does La Serna High compare to other schools in Whittier?
How does La Serna High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
What AP courses are offered at La Serna High?
How many students from La Serna High go to UC?
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 nearest schools.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 593 | 40% | 31% | 16% | 12% | 71% | +24 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 599 | 20% | 23% | 28% | 29% | 43% | +20 |
We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, no valid result was published, or the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schoolwide | 613 | 14% | 43% | 41% | 2% |
CAST is tested in grades 5 and 8, then once in grade 10, 11, or 12. This row is the school's all-student aggregate. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 341 | 63.6% | +3 | +25 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 479 | 68.7% | +5 | +30 |
| White | 71 | 83.1% | +7 | +21 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Serna High ← | — | 61 | 29.9% | 57.1% | — | 1.8% |
| California High | 1.7 mi | 54 | 21.1% | 53.0% | — | 3.0% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 63 | 84 | #323 | 25.7% | 54.5% | 8.8% | 2.3% | — |
| 2022 | 62 | 87 | #264 | 27.7% | 57.9% | 18.6% | 3.9% | — |
| 2023 | 60 | 85 | #316 | 25.9% | 53.8% | 18.5% | 4.1% | — |
| 2024 | 61 | 87 | #288 | 25.3% | 58.1% | 16.8% | 1.6% | — |
| 2025 | 61 | 86 | #299 | 29.9% | 57.1% | 14.6% | 1.8% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 8.7% | 15.2% | +6.5pp |
| Male | 8.0% | 13.1% | +5.1pp |
| Asian | 4.4% | 9.3% | +4.9pp |
| Black/African American | 15.8% | 36.0% | +20.2pp |
| White | 2.5% | 3.8% | +1.3pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 8.6% | 14.3% | +5.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 18.6% | 27.2% | +8.6pp |
| English Learners | 14.4% | 19.6% | +5.2pp |
| Homeless | 9.7% | 28.6% | +18.9pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 11.3% | 17.1% | +5.8pp |
| All Students | 8.4% | 14.2% | +5.8pp |
| Filipino | — | 25.0% | — |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | — | 21.4% | — |
| Two or More Races | — | 18.8% | — |
| Year | Applied | Admitted | Enrolled | GPA (applied) | GPA (admitted) | GPA (enrolled) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 159 | 110 | 41 | 3.84 | 3.92 | 4.05 |
| 2024 | 172 | 102 | 49 | 3.85 | 4.02 | 4.14 |
| 2023 | 191 | 117 | 56 | 3.86 | 3.99 | 4.08 |
| 2022 | 195 | 103 | 45 | 3.83 | 4.01 | 4.10 |
| 2021 | 205 | 106 | 53 | 3.75 | 3.97 | 4.10 |
| 2020 | 138 | 82 | 37 | 3.76 | 3.96 | 4.05 |
| 2019 | 149 | 71 | 32 | 3.75 | 3.97 | 4.06 |
| 2018 | 188 | 86 | 37 | 3.72 | 4.04 | 4.13 |
| 2017 | 211 | 96 | 49 | 3.72 | 4.04 | 4.12 |
| 2016 | 230 | 142 | 59 | 3.67 | 3.88 | 3.98 |
| 2015 | 159 | 73 | 32 | 3.64 | 4.00 | 4.08 |
| 2014 | 155 | 86 | 48 | 3.68 | 3.91 | 3.95 |
‹n = UC masks counts below n · a missing year means zero or masked — never assume zero · GPA cells blank for years with more than one contributing CEEB code (a summed GPA would be fabricated math) · GPAs live here and nowhere else on this page · Applied/Admitted/Enrolled reflect who applied, not what the school taught — no admit rate is computed or implied by this table. Series shown from 2014; full record to 1994 at the UC Infocenter.
| Campus | Year | Applied | Admitted | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | 2025 | 55 | 7 | 4 |
| Berkeley | 2024 | 75 | 12 | 6 |
| Berkeley | 2023 | 79 | 11 | 7 |
| Berkeley | 2022 | 78 | 12 | 6 |
| Berkeley | 2021 | 69 | 12 | 6 |
| Davis | 2025 | 47 | 16 | 3 |
| Davis | 2024 | 53 | 22 | ‹3 |
| Davis | 2023 | 57 | 20 | 4 |
| Davis | 2022 | 53 | 13 | ‹3 |
| Davis | 2021 | 53 | 24 | 6 |
| Irvine | 2025 | 122 | 16 | 5 |
| Irvine | 2024 | 130 | 28 | 8 |
| Irvine | 2023 | 134 | 19 | 9 |
| Irvine | 2022 | 151 | 25 | 9 |
| Irvine | 2021 | 150 | 26 | 12 |
| Los Angeles | 2025 | 115 | 9 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | 2024 | 125 | 11 | 5 |
| Los Angeles | 2023 | 146 | 12 | 8 |
| Los Angeles | 2022 | 139 | 13 | 11 |
| Los Angeles | 2021 | 150 | 13 | 7 |
| Merced | 2025 | 38 | 38 | ‹3 |
| Merced | 2024 | 16 | 15 | ‹3 |
| Merced | 2023 | 19 | 18 | ‹3 |
| Merced | 2022 | 17 | 17 | ‹3 |
| Merced | 2021 | 25 | 25 | ‹3 |
| Riverside | 2025 | 75 | 63 | 9 |
| Riverside | 2024 | 52 | 42 | 5 |
| Riverside | 2023 | 54 | 43 | 6 |
| Riverside | 2022 | 67 | 49 | 5 |
| Riverside | 2021 | 52 | 23 | ‹3 |
| San Diego | 2025 | 104 | 23 | 6 |
| San Diego | 2024 | 117 | 31 | 10 |
| San Diego | 2023 | 137 | 23 | 9 |
| San Diego | 2022 | 116 | 24 | 7 |
| San Diego | 2021 | 125 | 38 | 11 |
| Santa Barbara | 2025 | 91 | 21 | ‹3 |
| Santa Barbara | 2024 | 106 | 30 | 9 |
| Santa Barbara | 2023 | 108 | 26 | 8 |
| Santa Barbara | 2022 | 79 | 19 | ‹3 |
| Santa Barbara | 2021 | 100 | 20 | 3 |
| Santa Cruz | 2025 | 50 | 36 | 4 |
| Santa Cruz | 2024 | 59 | 38 | 5 |
| Santa Cruz | 2023 | 64 | 40 | 3 |
| Santa Cruz | 2022 | 62 | 26 | 4 |
| Santa Cruz | 2021 | 54 | 32 | 5 |
| Universitywide | 2025 | 159 | 110 | 41 |
| Universitywide | 2024 | 172 | 102 | 49 |
| Universitywide | 2023 | 191 | 117 | 56 |
| Universitywide | 2022 | 195 | 103 | 45 |
| Universitywide | 2021 | 205 | 106 | 53 |
Σ campuses ≠ universitywide — students apply to several campuses; the Universitywide row (muted) is its own independent count, never a sum of the rows above it.
| Subject | Taught by |
|---|---|
| Art History | this school |
| Biology | this school |
| Calculus AB | this school |
| Calculus BC | this school |
| Chemistry | this school |
| Computer Science Principles | this school |
| Drawing | this school |
| English Language and Composition | this school |
| English Literature and Composition | this school |
| Environmental Science | this school |
| French Language and Culture | this school |
| German Language and Culture | this school |
| Human Geography | this school |
| Music Theory | this school |
| Physics 1 | this school |
| Physics 2 | this school |
| Psychology | this school |
| Spanish Language and Culture | this school |
| Spanish Literature and Culture | this school |
| Statistics | this school |
| U.S. Government and Politics | this school |
| United States History | this school |
| World History: Modern | this school |
Authorization ≠ a section running this year — the Ledger records what the school may teach, not seat counts.
| Measure | This school |
|---|---|
| AP offered | offered |
| AP course count | 19 |
| AP enrollment | 878 |
| IB participation | not offered |
| Dual enrollment | offered · 114 enrolled |
| Algebra I in grade 8 | not reported |
| Calculus sections | 14 |
| Physics sections | 20 |
| Chemistry sections | 34 |
| Total enrollment (CRDC) | 2,564 |
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 | 52 | 9.3% |
| California State University | 132 | 23.7% |
| California community college | 208 | 37.3% |
| In-state private | 26 | 4.7% |
| Out-of-state, 4-year | 32 | 5.7% |
| Out-of-state, 2-year | 3 | 0.5% |
| Not enrolled | 105 | 18.8% |
558 completers, class of 2023 · state-reported college-going rate 81% · % 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