La Sierra High: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
La Sierra posts 38% 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 | 43 | 10% | 38% | 100.0% | 0.0% | 21.7% | 7.7% |
| CA average · High School | 47 | 16% | 36% | 86.6% | 33.9% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
La Sierra High scores 43 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 39th 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 “38% proficient” and call it done. La Sierra deserves a closer read. The school sits in Visalia, where three in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
As a charter, La Sierra enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 28th to the 39th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 200 high schools.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 38% of students meet the standard today, above the 9% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 8% | 8% | 9% | 17% | 19% |
| Grade 8 | 11% | 6% | 13% | 6% | 21% |
| Grade 11 | 18% | 21% | 22% | 30% | 65% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 5% | 8% | 3% | 8% | 24% |
| Grade 8 | 7% | 0% | 5% | 3% | 18% |
| Grade 11 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 10% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 38 are proficient by 11th grade → 100 graduate → 0 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
The 6 things our score weighs
California's own answer to the same question
California runs its own growth model — it follows individual children in grades 4 through 8 and compares each one against a prediction from their own prior scores. On that measure this school sits about at the middle of California high schools in reading, and the 87th in math. We show it; we don't score it.
— pts vs expected is scale-score points above or below what California's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores. It is not a percentage and not a percent of anything. A typical California high school lands at −3 in reading, and the middle half of them fall between −13 and +5 — the spread is wide, so read the rank, not the sign. CDE blends two consecutive years into each published figure, so adjacent years share input data and no year-over-year trend can honestly be drawn from them. It covers grades 4-8 only, and it is not part of the Scope Score — we assessed it and left it out: it tracks school demographics roughly three times as strongly as our own growth measure does, and one published year is not enough to test how stable it is.
Ask how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- 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 La Sierra High in Visalia, 11.1% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 30.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. La Sierra High trails its district average for low-income students by 19.2 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (11.1% Math proficient); Hispanic students (31.4% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 24.2 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 45 students tested.
7 of 12 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
California follows these children individually and predicts each one's score from their own prior year. Each row is read against the same group at a typical California high school — not against zero, and not against this school's all-students figure, because the state's expectation already differs by group.
— 4 more groups are reported here with between 11 and 29 students. We hold those back on purpose: at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own, and a quarter of such groups land past the state's top or bottom cut point by chance alone. They are listed with their student counts in the data appendix. — A group not listed at all had fewer than 11 students with a growth score, so California published nothing for it here. That is a privacy protection, not a judgment about those students. — Context only. None of this enters the Scope Score.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below is estimated from nearby schools in the same district — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated K-12 path based on district and proximity. Actual attendance zones may differ. Contact your school district for official feeder information.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
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 191 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 15% 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 Sierra High a good high school?
What are La Sierra High's CAASPP test scores?
How does La Sierra High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at La Sierra High?
How does La Sierra High compare to other schools in Visalia?
How does La Sierra High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 55
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 35
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 nearest schools.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 21 | 0% | 19% | 5% | 76% | 19% | −29 |
| Grade 8 | 38 | 3% | 18% | 34% | 45% | 21% | −25 |
| Grade 11 | 20 | 20% | 45% | 20% | 15% | 65% | +16 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 21 | 14% | 10% | 14% | 62% | 24% | −10 |
| Grade 8 | 38 | 0% | 18% | 29% | 53% | 18% | −14 |
| Grade 11 | 20 | 0% | 10% | 10% | 80% | 10% | −14 |
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 | 59 | 3% | 12% | 75% | 10% |
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 | 45 | 11.1% | −19 | −27 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 70 | 31.4% | −2 | −7 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Grade gap | Cohort growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Sierra High ← | — | 43 | 10.0% | 37.5% | — | — | 7.7% |
| Redwood High | 1.8 mi | 66 | 28.3% | 57.5% | — | — | 1.5% |
| Golden West High | 1.2 mi | 50 | 10.3% | 32.5% | — | — | 5.5% |
| Mt. Whitney High | 2 mi | 47 | 11.6% | 34.2% | — | — | 5.9% |
| California average | — | 47 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Grade gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 33 | 28 | #1483 | 1.8% | 8.9% | 20.2% | 17.0% | — |
| 2022 | 32 | 24 | #1587 | 0.0% | 10.3% | 31.0% | 17.2% | — |
| 2023 | 33 | 25 | #1618 | 1.2% | 11.0% | 26.0% | 18.8% | — |
| 2024 | 36 | 29 | #1520 | 4.3% | 17.4% | 24.0% | 13.1% | — |
| 2025 | 43 | 39 | #1323 | 10.0% | 37.5% | 21.7% | 7.7% | — |
- — Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 27 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 16.3% | 15.2% | -1.1pp |
| Male | 17.4% | 13.6% | -3.8pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 14.9% | 14.7% | -0.2pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 22.5% | 28.0% | +5.5pp |
| English Learners | 13.6% | 14.6% | +1.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 17.0% | 16.6% | -0.4pp |
| All Students | 16.9% | 14.3% | -2.6pp |
| 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 | 1 |
| Chemistry sections | 0 |
| Total enrollment (CRDC) | 214 |
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 | 0 | 0.0% |
| California community college | 20 | 54.0% |
| In-state private | 0 | 0.0% |
| Out-of-state, 4-year | 0 | 0.0% |
| Out-of-state, 2-year | 0 | 0.0% |
| Not enrolled | 17 | 45.9% |
37 completers, class of 2023 · state-reported college-going rate 54% · % 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.
| Group | Reading | n | CDE band | Math | n | CDE band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Students | −13 | 53 | Moderate | +16 | 53 | Accelerated |
| Hispanic or Latino | −11 | 48 | Moderate | +18 | 48 | Accelerated |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | −18 | 41 | Moderate | +12 | 41 | Accelerated |
| English Only | −24 | 29 | not categorised | +13 | 29 | not categorised |
| English Learner | +1 | 22 | Average | +19 | 21 | Accelerated |
| Long-Term English Learner (grades 6-8 only) | −11 | 13 | Moderate | +10 | 13 | Accelerated |
| English Learners Only | +3 | 12 | not categorised | +28 | 12 | not categorised |
Whole scale-score points above or below what CDE's model predicted for these same children from their own prior-year scores — not a percentage, not a percentile. Statewide a typical school lands near +1 with a spread of about 13 points either side, so read a figure against its group's own typical value, not against zero. Muted rows have fewer than 30 students with a growth score — published by CDE, held back from the narrative sections above because at that size the figure swings about 17 points on its own. “Not categorised” is CDE assigning no band — English Only, Recently Reclassified, and English Learners Only receive a value and no band, for every school in the state. It is not a missing number. Long-Term English Learner counts cover grades 6-8 only (CDE), so that row is not comparable to the All Students row. Most figures blend two consecutive years, so adjacent published years share input data and no trend line can honestly be drawn across them. A group absent from this table had fewer than 11 students with a growth score and was never published. Grades 4-8 only. None of this enters the Scope Score — it is more strongly correlated with school demographics than our own growth measure, and one published year is not enough to test its reliability.
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