Sierra Alternative High: This school runs ahead of the state average. The bar itself is the harder conversation.
Sierra Alternative posts 41% meeting the standard against 36% statewide — ahead of most, with real headroom above the bar.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 36 | 18% | 41% | 84.6% | 0.0% | 52.8% | 5.4% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 87.6% | 35.4% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Sierra Alternative High scores 36 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 31st 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 “41% proficient” and call it done. Sierra Alternative deserves a closer read. The school sits in Tollhouse, where two 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 31st percentile since 2019.
The pandemic drop is behind this school: 41% of students meet the standard today, above the 30% who did in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 31% | 36% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 29% | 45% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 41 are proficient by 11th grade → 85 graduate → 0 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
The 6 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 how the school follows up when a student starts missing days — chronic absence often starts outside the classroom, not inside it.
- Ask what share of students complete the full college-prep course sequence, and who gets steered into it.
- 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.
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.
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 10 students, this school is much smaller than the typical California high school (≈1450).
Frequently asked questions
Is Sierra Alternative High a good high school?
What are Sierra Alternative High's CAASPP test scores?
How does Sierra Alternative High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Sierra Alternative High?
How does Sierra Alternative High compare to other schools in Tollhouse?
Your other options
A low score doesn't tell the whole story. Read: Your School Scored Low — Here's What That Actually Means
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 | 11 | 9% | 27% | 18% | 45% | 36% | −11 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 11 | 27% | 18% | 0% | 55% | 45% | +22 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Alternative High ← | — | 36 | 18.2% | 40.9% | — | 5.4% |
| Sierra High | 0.1 mi | 54 | 25.7% | 58.1% | — | 5.7% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 35 | 31 | #1417 | 15.1% | 29.7% | 43.9% | 4.7% | — |
| 2025 | 36 | 31 | #1485 | 18.2% | 40.9% | 52.8% | 5.4% | — |
- — Subgroup results are suppressed for small student counts (fewer than 15 tested), following CDE privacy rules.
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 57.1% | — | — |
| Male | 66.7% | 83.3% | +16.6pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 46.7% | — | — |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 58.3% | 90.9% | +32.6pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 64.6% | — | — |
| All Students | 63.5% | 81.8% | +18.3pp |
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