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Petersen Alternative Center for EducationPublicCeres, CAGrades 6-12

Petersen Alternative Center for Education: A county community school. No Scope Score publishes here.

A Scope Score ranks schools a family can choose between. At Petersen Alternative Center for Education, students are placed here by a district, a probation department, or a county office — so a comparative rank would measure something a family's choice never entered. We show what California reports and hold the rank.

county community school

no score · no band · no rank — enrollment assigned, not chosen

Placed by district, probation, or county

Every figure below is California's own, reported for this school and shown without a rank. Why we withhold a score →

Petersen Alternative Center for Education is a county community school in Ceres, California. SchoolScope publishes no Scope Score, performance band, archetype or ranking for schools where enrollment is assigned rather than chosen, so its CDE CAASPP 2025 results appear here unranked.

48 students were tested here on last year's CAASPP. 2.1% met or exceeded the standard; 0.0% exceeded it.

Chronic absenteeism ran 52.1%; the suspension rate was 2.9%. California reports both the same way it does for every school — this page just doesn't rank them here.

If you're trying to understand this school

Families don't choose a court or community school off this page — a student arrives through the court, a probation department, or a district referral. For a specific student, the county office of education or the district's alternative-education office is the right first call.

  • Ask how credits earned here transfer back to a student's home school.
  • Ask what continuity of services looks like when a student moves between this program and a comprehensive campus.
  • Ask what happens to a student's education plan after they leave.
CAASPP 2024–25

This school against the California average

2024–2025 trend · CDE CAASPP
% Exceeded% Met+AbsenceSuspension
This school0%2%52.1%2.9%
CA average · Middle School (for reference)17%40%18.1%3.6%
This schoolCA avg
% Exceeded0%17%
% Met+2%40%
Absence52.1%18.1%
Suspension2.9%3.6%
Who it works for · CAASPP 2024–25

Low-income students here meet the ELA standard behind the same group statewide.

Low-income students here trail the state average for their group by 29 points in ELA — worth asking how the school is closing that gap.

Met or exceeded · reading and math combined
All students at this school: 5% met or exceeded
All StudentsAll Students: this school 5%, district —, state 40%5%
Socioeconomically DisadvantagedSocioeconomically Disadvantaged: this school 6%, district 4%, state 32%6%
Hispanic/LatinoHispanic/Latino: this school 3%, district 3%, state 32%3%
FemaleFemale: this school 4%, district 4%, state 44%4%
MaleMale: this school 0%, district 5%, state 42%0%

7 of 12 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.

this school district, same group California, same group
ShowHide Student-group results by grade
Student-group results by grade

Results compare different grade groups in the same year, relative to the lowest tested grade. They do not track the same children over time. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.

ShowHide California's growth model by student group

No student-group growth record is available for this school in this data release.

Attendance & discipline · 2024–25

Showing up, and staying in class

Chronic absenteeismChronic absenteeism: this school 52.1%, district 17.3%, state 18.1%52.1%
Suspension rateSuspension rate: this school 2.9%, district —, state 3.6%2.9%
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
ShowHide attendance by student group and by grade
Chronic absenteeism by grade band
Grades 7–867.4%
Grades 9–1275.3%
The people teaching · CDE staffing 2024–25

The people teaching here

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Teaching staff11 teachers
Avg. experience18.7 years
Fully credentialed17%
PrincipalJohn Luis
ShowHide what the district pays
Teacher salary schedule$54,085 – $131,072
Principal salary$147,778 – $147,778
Superintendent salary$287,937

Pay is set by the district, not the school.

What gets spent · FY 2018–19

It spends $27,605 per student, more than the California average.

Context — never part of the Scope Score

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.

$5,427 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.

Per-pupil spendingPer-pupil spending: $27,605, CA average $14,491$27,605 · spent at this school
Federal share$5,427 per student
This schoolDistrictCalifornia
Where the district's dollars go · FY 2024–25 · CDE SACS
Instruction 13%Instruction support 38%Student services 17%Administration 24%Buildings & maintenance 7%Other 1%

District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.

ShowHide the district's spending year by year
district detail, 2016–2019 — the newest published
2019$72,156 per pupil
2018$72,488 per pupil
2017$45,654 per pupil
2016$43,623 per pupil
Who is enrolled

Who is enrolled here

Context — never part of the Scope Score

Worth knowing

On the state's science test (CAST), 0% 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.

Hispanic or Latino74.4% · district 59.9% · CA 56.1%
White17.9% · district 25.0% · CA 19.9%
Asian0.8% · district 2.7% · CA 10.2%
Black4.3% · district 4.8% · CA 4.8%
Other2.6% · district 7.6% · CA 9.0%
GenderFemale 37.6% · Male 61.5% · Non-binary 0.8%

Contact

DistrictStanislaus County Office of Education
PrincipalJohn Luis
Grades6-12
Nearby schools
Every number · For the data nerds

Every number on this page

Everything California reports about this school, shown without a rank — grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, climate, and the nearest schools.

01Score factors (not combined)the dimensions a Scope Score would weigh, shown against California · 2024–25
Score factors
FactorSchoolStateWeight
Exceeded standard0.0%17.2%42%
Met or exceeded2.1%40.0%23%
Chronic absenteeism52.1%18.1%5%
Suspension rate2.9%3.6%5%
EL proficiency (ELPAC)0.0%18.0%5%
Exceeded standard
vs CA 17.2%
Met or exceeded
vs CA 40.0%
Chronic absenteeism
vs CA 18.1%
Suspension rate
vs CA 3.6%
EL proficiency (ELPAC)
vs CA 18.0%
02By grade & subgroupCAASPP 2024–25 · % of tested students
ShowHide table 02 — By grade & subgroup
ELATestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET+
Grade 60—————
Grade 76—————
Grade 8240%4%21%75%4%
Grade 11186%6%22%67%11%
MathTestedEXCMETNEARNOTMET+
Grade 60—————
Grade 76—————
Grade 8240%0%4%96%0%
Grade 11180%6%6%89%6%

We show the grade rows CDE publishes for this school. A missing grade or dash can mean the school does not serve that grade, that we hold no valid result for it, or that the tested group was too small to report. It does not mean zero.

Science (CAST)TestedEXCMETNEARNOT
Schoolwide330%0%36%64%

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 · ELATestedMET+vs districtvs CA
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged348.8%——
Hispanic/Latino323.1%——
03Nearest middle schoolsnearest by distance · Grade gap = grade 3 vs grade 5, this year, different students; Cohort growth = one school's returning cohort tracked across grades (mostly, not exactly, the same kids), in scale-score points — that's the measurement the Scope Score weights
SchoolDistEXCMET+Grade gapCohort growthSusp
Petersen Alternative Center for Education ←—0.0%2.1%——2.9%
Barbara Spratling Middle2.8 mi10.5%31.0%+28.0pp—11.4%
California average—17.2%40.0%+1.5pp—3.6%
04More measurescontext · not all part of the Scope Score
ShowHide table 04 — More measures
YearExcMet+AbsentSusp
20240.0%0.0%42.6%6.7%
20250.0%2.1%52.1%2.9%
What we can't show
  • — No Scope Score, performance band, archetype, or state rank publishes for this school — enrollment here is assigned, not chosen, so a comparative rank would mean something different than it does for a neighborhood school. See the Enrollment Axiom at /methodology#peer-class.
05Climate by student groupchronic absenteeism · 2019 vs 2025 — the two years CDE publishes at subgroup level
ShowHide table 05 — Climate by student group
Group20192025
Female66.7%72.6%
Male66.1%73.8%
Asian11.1%—
Black/African American81.0%—
Hispanic/Latino69.1%74.2%
White62.3%66.7%
English Learners68.9%74.5%
Socioeconomically Disadvantaged67.3%71.6%
All Students66.3%72.9%
Students with Disabilities—65.6%

EXC = exceeded standard · MET+ = met or exceeded ("proficient") · Source: CA Dept. of Education · CAASPP 2024–25 · Vintages: climate subgroups 2019+2025 · district finance per its label · ACS 2022 · Data updated 2026-09-18

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