North Monterey County Center for Independent Study: No single number tells this school's story. Here's the honest picture.
North Monterey County Center for Independent Study posts 34% meeting the standard and 11.8% 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 | 49 | 12% | 34% | 88.9% | 50.0% | 31.3% | 1.1% |
| CA average · High School | 47 | 16% | 36% | 86.6% | 33.9% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
North Monterey County Center for Independent Study scores 49 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 51st 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 “34% proficient” and call it done. North Monterey County Center for Independent Study deserves a closer read. The school sits in Salinas, where four in five students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 51st percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 34% of students meet the standard today, above the 26% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | — | 23% | 20% | — | — |
| Grade 8 | — | 31% | 29% | 19% | — |
| Grade 11 | 53% | 31% | 32% | 34% | 35% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | — | 15% | 21% | — | — |
| Grade 8 | — | 8% | 14% | 19% | — |
| Grade 11 | 0% | 10% | 7% | 19% | 32% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 34 are proficient by 11th grade → 89 graduate → 50 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
The 7 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 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 North Monterey County Center for Independent Study in Salinas, 30.0% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 25.7% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. North Monterey County Center for Independent Study outperforms its district average for low-income students by 4.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (30.0% Math proficient); Hispanic students (35.5% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 3.2 percentage points for low-income students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 30 students tested.
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
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.
$1 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 96 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 19% 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 North Monterey County Center for Independent Study a good high school?
What are North Monterey County Center for Independent Study's CAASPP test scores?
How does North Monterey County Center for Independent Study rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at North Monterey County Center for Independent Study?
How does North Monterey County Center for Independent Study compare to other schools in Salinas?
How does North Monterey County Center for Independent Study 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 nearest schools.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 5 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 8 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 11 | 34 | 12% | 24% | 26% | 38% | 35% | −13 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 8 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Grade 11 | 34 | 12% | 21% | 9% | 59% | 32% | +9 |
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 | 43 | 5% | 14% | 63% | 19% |
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 | 30 | 30.0% | +4 | −8 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 31 | 35.5% | +7 | −3 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Grade gap | Cohort growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Monterey County Center for Independent Study ← | — | 49 | 11.8% | 33.8% | — | — | 1.1% |
| Central Bay High (Continuation) | 0 mi | 30 | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — | 4.2% |
| California average | — | 47 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Grade gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 46 | 44 | #1140 | 7.0% | 26.4% | 36.1% | 1.6% | — |
| 2022 | 45 | 45 | #1153 | 5.2% | 20.7% | 29.5% | 1.4% | — |
| 2023 | 45 | 43 | #1220 | 1.1% | 19.3% | 8.7% | 1.2% | — |
| 2024 | 45 | 45 | #1186 | 4.7% | 26.6% | 30.2% | 2.5% | — |
| 2025 | 49 | 51 | #1066 | 11.8% | 33.8% | 31.3% | 1.1% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 36.8% | 27.0% | -9.8pp |
| Male | 44.6% | 34.2% | -10.4pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 43.1% | 28.6% | -14.5pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 44.4% | — | — |
| English Learners | 31.3% | 29.7% | -1.6pp |
| Homeless | 45.1% | 21.1% | -24.0pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 46.3% | 32.5% | -13.8pp |
| All Students | 40.1% | 31.2% | -8.9pp |
| 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 | 0 |
| Total enrollment (CRDC) | 176 |
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 | 2.1% |
| California community college | 16 | 33.3% |
| In-state private | 0 | 0.0% |
| Out-of-state, 4-year | 1 | 2.1% |
| Out-of-state, 2-year | 1 | 2.1% |
| Not enrolled | 29 | 60.4% |
48 completers, class of 2023 · state-reported college-going rate 40% · % 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.
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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