San Mateo High: Most kids here clear the bar, year after year. The question is what happens after that.
San Mateo posts 54% meeting the standard, and 32.7% going well past it. Most kids here keep up. Fewer get pushed further. Ask the school what it does for a child who already finds the work easy.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 58 | 33% | 54% | 91.3% | 70.6% | 20.9% | 3.4% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 87.6% | 35.4% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
San Mateo High scores 58 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 81st 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 →
💪 Strong All-Around — Ask about what we don't score — class size, electives, the feel of a classroom — strong numbers everywhere on paper don't mean every classroom feels the same.
Most rating sites would stop at “54% proficient” and call it done. San Mateo deserves a closer read. The school sits in San Mateo, where one in three students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 81st-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
This school hasn't fully recovered from the pandemic: 54% meet the standard today, versus 59% in 2019 — a gap worth asking about on a visit.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 68% | 68% | 59% | 66% | 63% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 50% | 45% | 38% | 43% | 44% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 54 are proficient by 11th grade → 91 graduate → 71 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
The 7 things our score weighs
Ask how the school challenges kids who clear the standard early. The gap between meeting and exceeding is where pacing shows.
- 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 San Mateo High in San Mateo, 38.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 50.6% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. San Mateo High trails its district average for low-income students by 12.4 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (21.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (37.0% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 63.3 percentage points for english learner students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 131 students tested.
5 of 15 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Showing up, and staying in class
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$347 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
On the state's science test (CAST), 43% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is San Mateo High a good high school?
What are San Mateo High's CAASPP test scores?
How does San Mateo High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at San Mateo High?
How does San Mateo High compare to other schools in San Mateo?
How does San Mateo High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 56
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 91
Nearby Middle Schools
2 within ~3 mi · avg 63
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 | 297 | 40% | 24% | 18% | 19% | 63% | +16 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 289 | 26% | 19% | 16% | 40% | 44% | +21 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 304 | 18% | 25% | 49% | 8% |
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 | 131 | 38.2% | −12 | −0 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 138 | 37.0% | −13 | −2 |
| Asian | 64 | 87.5% | −3 | +13 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Mateo High ← | — | 58 | 32.7% | 53.8% | — | 3.4% |
| Burlingame High | 1 mi | 75 | 48.6% | 74.2% | — | 1.3% |
| Aragon High | 1.9 mi | 71 | 44.7% | 70.5% | — | 2.4% |
| Peninsula High (Continuation) | 2.5 mi | 21 | 1.5% | 8.7% | — | 12.0% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 65 | 88 | #253 | 36.4% | 59.1% | 11.1% | 3.5% | — |
| 2022 | 61 | 87 | #269 | 34.5% | 56.6% | 21.5% | 5.2% | — |
| 2023 | 57 | 81 | #406 | 28.7% | 48.4% | 23.2% | 5.3% | — |
| 2024 | 61 | 86 | #306 | 34.5% | 54.7% | 21.9% | 4.4% | — |
| 2025 | 58 | 81 | #405 | 32.7% | 53.8% | 20.9% | 3.4% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 10.5% | 22.0% | +11.5pp |
| Male | 10.5% | 18.3% | +7.8pp |
| Asian | 2.2% | 6.5% | +4.3pp |
| Black/African American | 17.6% | 33.3% | +15.7pp |
| Filipino | 7.4% | — | — |
| White | 4.7% | 10.9% | +6.2pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 16.3% | 27.5% | +11.2pp |
| Pacific Islander | 17.1% | 53.3% | +36.2pp |
| Two or More Races | 13.0% | 18.1% | +5.1pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 22.9% | 36.2% | +13.3pp |
| English Learners | 20.9% | 28.1% | +7.2pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 17.3% | 28.0% | +10.7pp |
| All Students | 10.5% | 20.3% | +9.8pp |
| Homeless | — | 41.4% | — |
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