Needles High: Four in five leave college-ready. But suspensions run 2× the state rate.
Needles has real strengths and one number that complicates them. Most rating sites show you one or the other. Both belong on the same page.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 52 | 11% | 29% | 100.0% | 80.0% | 27.4% | 8.0% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 87.6% | 35.4% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Needles High scores 52 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 68th 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 “29% proficient” and call it done. Needles deserves a closer read. The school sits in Needles, where three in four students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The headline number: 80.0% of students leave measurably college-ready, versus 35.4% statewide.
The seven-year arc
Climbed from the 59th to the 68th percentile since 2019 — past roughly 100 high schools.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 29% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 40% | 23% | 41% | 44% | 42% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 15% | 11% | 24% | 15% | 17% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students leave measurably college-ready, versus 35.4% statewide.
of students were suspended, versus 3.6% statewide — a school visit will tell you more than this number.
Of 100 students here: 29 are proficient by 11th grade → 100 graduate → 80 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask about the discipline philosophy and what a typical suspension is for. Numbers can't tell you whether a campus feels strict or chaotic — a visit can.
- Ask what typically leads to a suspension, and what happens before it gets there.
- 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 Needles High in Needles, 32.6% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 28.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Needles High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (13.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (37.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 9.1 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 46 students tested.
5 of 11 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Estimated path based on proximity within the same district. 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
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.
$218 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 269 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 16% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Needles High a good high school?
What are Needles High's CAASPP test scores?
How does Needles High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Needles High?
How does Needles High compare to other schools in Needles?
How does Needles 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 | 60 | 17% | 25% | 20% | 38% | 42% | −6 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 60 | 5% | 12% | 28% | 55% | 17% | −7 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 70 | 3% | 13% | 73% | 11% |
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 | 46 | 32.6% | +4 | −6 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 24 | 37.5% | +6 | −1 |
| White | 20 | 55.0% | +20 | −7 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Needles High ← | — | 52 | 10.8% | 29.2% | — | 8.0% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 51 | 59 | #836 | 4.2% | 27.1% | 24.6% | 13.9% | — |
| 2022 | 48 | 62 | #798 | 4.6% | 16.9% | 35.6% | 7.5% | — |
| 2023 | 50 | 69 | #669 | 6.1% | 32.4% | 34.0% | 9.5% | — |
| 2024 | 51 | 68 | #678 | 7.7% | 29.8% | 29.7% | 8.9% | — |
| 2025 | 52 | 68 | #693 | 10.8% | 29.2% | 27.4% | 8.0% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 23.0% | 25.7% | +2.7pp |
| Male | 24.8% | 27.0% | +2.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 27.2% | 26.5% | -0.7pp |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 26.7% | 33.3% | +6.6pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 29.3% | 29.8% | +0.5pp |
| Homeless | 45.5% | 37.5% | -8.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 29.8% | 30.3% | +0.5pp |
| All Students | 24.0% | 26.4% | +2.4pp |
| Two or More Races | — | 17.6% | — |
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