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Palm Desert High

High School
Desert Sands UnifiedPalm DesertRiverside County92260
📍 74-910 Aztec Road
Composite Score
out of 100
State Percentile
of high schools
State Rank
of 1,739 California high schools
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Composite scores are SchoolScope's analysis of public data from the California Dept. of Education (CAASPP, chronic absenteeism, suspension rates). They are not official CDE ratings and should not be the sole basis for school decisions. See methodology.

School overview

Enrollment
2,039 students
Student-Teacher Ratio
26:1
Free/Reduced Lunch
59%
Teachers
78 full-time

College & career readiness

Graduation Rate
96.4%
AP Exam Prepared
56.6%
A-G Completion
80.2%
College-Going Rate
79.0%

Data source: California Department of Education — ACGR, CCI, CGR reports

Dashboard indicators

ELA Year-over-Year
Declined
-5.2 pts DFS change
Math Year-over-Year
Declined
-8.1 pts DFS change
EL Proficiency (ELPAC)
25.4%
English learners at Level 4 (Well Developed) · 118 tested

Data source: California School Dashboard 2025, ELPAC 2024

Student demographics

Hispanic50.0%
White35.6%
Asian5.4%
Black1.8%
Other7.1%

Performance breakdown

Performance breakdown for Palm Desert High
CategoryPercentage
Exceeded Standard23.1%
Met Standard30.3%
Below Standard46.6%

What other rankings don't show you

Most rating sites report "53% proficient" for Palm Desert High and stop there. Here's what that number hides:

23.1% of students exceeded standard while 30.3% met it. That exceeded rate is 7.6 points above the state average of 15.5%. That's 10.0 points above the Desert Sands Unified district average of 13.1%. The gap between "met" and "exceeded" can reveal how much a school's curriculum challenges students beyond proficiency.

The graduation rate is 96.4% — above the state target. 80.2% of students complete A-G requirements for UC/CSU eligibility — a strong college readiness signal. 79.0% of graduates go on to college within a year.

Chronic absenteeism is 23.4%, better than the state average of 34.0%.

Why the exceeded vs. met split matters →

Key metrics

% Exceeded Standard
23.1%
Students scoring above proficient
% Met or Above
53.4%
Students meeting standard
Chronic Absenteeism
23.4%
Students missing 10%+ of days
Suspension Rate
4.2%
Students suspended at least once
Total Tested
981
Across all grades & subjects

ELA scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
11th48833.6%35.7%18.6%12.1%69.3%

Math scores by grade

GradeTestedExceededMetNearly MetNot MetMet+Above
11th49312.6%24.9%26.4%36.1%37.5%
K-12 Feeder PathBoundary data
▼
High School
Palm Desert High
61.277th pctile
This school

Feeder patterns derived from 2015-16 NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries may have changed. Contact your school district for current information.

Nearby schools

Nearby Elementary Schools

3 within ~3 mi · avg 50.1

See more on map →

Nearby Middle Schools

1 within ~3 mi · avg 44.1

See more on map →
All schools in Palm Desert →

Private alternatives nearby

Private schools within ~2 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.

Xavier College Preparatory High School
Roman Catholic · Grades 9-12 · 559 students
10:1Private4.2 mi
Desert Christian Academy
Brethren · Grades PK-12 · 534 students
17:1Private3.7 mi
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Data source: California Department of Education (2025 test year) · How we score · Explore all schools · Blog