Taft Charter High: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.
Taft Charter posts 28.4% exceeding the standard — versus 15.8% statewide — with climate numbers better than most. That doesn't make it perfect. It makes it worth a visit to find what numbers can't measure.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Grad rate | College readiness | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 62 | 28% | 53% | 96.4% | 76.2% | 24.7% | 0.8% |
| CA average · High School | 44 | 16% | 36% | 86.6% | 33.9% | 30.2% | 3.6% |
Taft Charter High scores 62 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 87th 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 “53% proficient” and call it done. Taft Charter deserves a closer read. The school sits in Woodland Hills, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Taft Charter's low-income kids hit 58.2% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.
As a charter, Taft Charter enrolls by application rather than address. That changes how you get in, but it doesn't change the score.
The seven-year arc
Has held the 87th-percentile line every tested year since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 53% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 66% | 73% | 67% | 62% | 65% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 41% | 40% | 42% | 39% | 40% |
The story this school is actually telling
Of 100 students here: 53 are proficient by 11th grade → 96 graduate → 76 pass an AP exam. The gaps between those bars are the questions to ask.
Taft Charter's most underrated number
58.2% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 6 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 extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- 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 Taft Charter High in Woodland Hills, 58.2% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 40.9% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Taft Charter High outperforms its district average for low-income students by 17.3 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (30.5% Math proficient); White students (71.7% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 43.7 percentage points for disabilities students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 249 students tested.
6 of 16 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
In the 2020-21 federal collection — the newest there is — Hispanic students were 39% of Taft Charter's enrollment but 23% of its AP seats; ask the school what's changed since.
● share of AP enrollment vs share of total enrollment, this school only · not part of the Scope Score
Data source: U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection, 2020-21 (biennial; newest published)
Showing up, and staying in class
Where the path goes
The path below follows attendance boundaries — scores shown for each next step.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
Taft Charter's teachers are authorized to teach 29 of the 40 AP subjects the College Board offers — well above the 14-subject median among California schools that offer AP at all — including Calculus BC, Calculus AB, and Physics C: Mechanics.
Data source: College Board AP Course Audit, 2025 - 2026 audit year (authorization, not enrollment) · IB World Schools directory, name-matched · structural depth: 2020-21 federal snapshot, table 09
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.
$1,049 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 2,221 students, this school is well above the typical California high school (≈1450).
On the state's science test (CAST), 34% 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 Taft Charter High a good high school?
What are Taft Charter High's CAASPP test scores?
How does Taft Charter High rank in California?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Taft Charter High?
How does Taft Charter High compare to other schools in Woodland Hills?
How does Taft Charter High serve low-income and underrepresented students?
What AP courses are offered at Taft Charter High?
Your other options
Nearby High Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 30
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 11 | 462 | 37% | 28% | 17% | 18% | 65% | +18 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 11 | 456 | 20% | 21% | 20% | 39% | 40% | +17 |
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 | 485 | 11% | 23% | 59% | 7% |
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 | 249 | 58.2% | +17 | +20 |
| White | 187 | 71.7% | +3 | +10 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 182 | 53.9% | +13 | +15 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taft Charter High ← | — | 62 | 28.4% | 52.8% | — | 0.8% |
| Canoga Park Senior High | 2.7 mi | 45 | 13.9% | 37.3% | — | 1.0% |
| Owensmouth Continuation | 2.6 mi | 22 | 1.8% | 8.9% | — | 1.3% |
| Henry David Thoreau Continuation | 0.1 mi | 22 | 5.9% | 11.8% | — | 1.7% |
| California average | — | 44 | 15.8% | 35.7% | — | 3.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 65 | 87 | #260 | 28.6% | 53.1% | 16.0% | 0.8% | — |
| 2022 | 64 | 90 | #200 | 30.8% | 56.3% | 27.0% | 0.6% | — |
| 2023 | 63 | 89 | #229 | 29.4% | 54.7% | 23.6% | 0.6% | — |
| 2024 | 61 | 86 | #301 | 25.8% | 50.4% | 24.0% | 1.1% | — |
| 2025 | 62 | 87 | #271 | 28.4% | 52.8% | 24.7% | 0.8% | — |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 16.9% | 25.8% | +8.9pp |
| Male | 14.6% | 23.4% | +8.8pp |
| Asian | 7.5% | 12.4% | +4.9pp |
| Black/African American | 24.0% | 39.7% | +15.7pp |
| White | 5.6% | 5.6% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 16.4% | 27.9% | +11.5pp |
| Two or More Races | 20.5% | 19.3% | -1.2pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 22.5% | 30.8% | +8.3pp |
| English Learners | 18.8% | 39.6% | +20.8pp |
| Homeless | 34.5% | 54.2% | +19.7pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 16.5% | 31.5% | +15.0pp |
| All Students | 15.7% | 24.5% | +8.8pp |
| Filipino | — | 27.8% | — |
| Subject | Taught by |
|---|---|
| 2-D Art and Design | this school |
| 3-D Art and Design | this school |
| Biology | this school |
| Calculus AB | this school |
| Calculus BC | this school |
| Chemistry | this school |
| Computer Science A | this school |
| Computer Science Principles | this school |
| Drawing | this school |
| English Language and Composition | this school |
| English Literature and Composition | this school |
| Environmental Science | this school |
| European History | this school |
| French Language and Culture | this school |
| Human Geography | this school |
| Macroeconomics | this school |
| Microeconomics | this school |
| Music Theory | this school |
| Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism | this school |
| Physics C: Mechanics | this school |
| Precalculus | this school |
| Psychology | this school |
| Research | this school |
| Seminar | this school |
| Spanish Language and Culture | this school |
| Statistics | this school |
| U.S. Government and Politics | this school |
| United States History | this school |
| World History: Modern | this school |
Authorization ≠ a section running this year — the Ledger records what the school may teach, not seat counts.
| Measure | This school |
|---|---|
| AP offered | offered |
| AP course count | 22 |
| AP enrollment | 825 |
| IB participation | not offered |
| Dual enrollment | not offered |
| Algebra I in grade 8 | not reported |
| Calculus sections | 8 |
| Physics sections | 9 |
| Chemistry sections | 14 |
| Total enrollment (CRDC) | 2,375 |
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 | 47 | 10.1% |
| California State University | 95 | 20.3% |
| California community college | 92 | 19.7% |
| In-state private | 18 | 3.9% |
| Out-of-state, 4-year | 31 | 6.6% |
| Out-of-state, 2-year | 1 | 0.2% |
| Not enrolled | 183 | 39.2% |
467 completers, class of 2023 · state-reported college-going rate 61% · % 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.
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