University High School Charter: High scores, healthy climate, strong attendance. We looked for a catch — we didn't find one.

It's Solid, and above average — a Scope Score putting it at the 74th percentile of California schools [scope]. But two things complicate a simple yes. Chronic absenteeism is 32.5% [absence], meaning about a third of students miss enough school to hurt their learning. And Students with Disabilities score 30.6 points below the school average on state tests (CDE CAASPP, 2024-25). Strong overall numbers and a real gap for a specific group of students can both be true at the same time, and here they are.

Most students graduate: the rate is 92.1% [grad]. Fewer leave with the coursework colleges actually require — A-G completion is 74.8% [ag]. That 17-point gap means a meaningful number of graduates walk out with a diploma but not the classes a four-year college expects. Worth asking directly: what's the plan for a student who's on track to graduate but behind on A-G requirements?

Partly, and it's worth checking both directions. The school's site says it offers 24 AP courses; the data record shows 34 [courses]. If anything, the school is undercounting itself — students likely have more course access than the website claims, though it's worth asking on a visit whether that's an outdated page or a recent expansion. On the school's claim of meeting the needs of a culturally and linguistically diverse student body, the data shows the largest measured gap is for Students with Disabilities, 30.6 points below the school average — a group not explicitly named in that statement. We don't have English Learner data to check that part of the claim directly.

Students with Disabilities score 30.6 points below the school average on state tests, the largest subgroup gap on record here (CDE CAASPP, 2024-25). That's a fact about outcomes for this group, and a Solid school can still have real work to do here. If your child would fall into this group, it's a fair and specific question to bring to a visit: what support does the school actually provide, and how does it track whether it's working?

The overall suspension rate is very low, 0.4% [suspension]. But Homeless students are suspended at a rate 2.2 points above the schoolwide rate — the largest discipline gap on record here. We don't know the number of students behind that gap, since no denominator is given, so a small handful of cases could move that number a lot. Worth asking how the school defines and tracks this population and what support is in place before discipline comes up.

Teachers average 16.2 years of experience, and only 6.8% are in their first year — a staff that's mostly experienced and settled [staff]. 89.2% are fully credentialed. These numbers describe staffing conditions across the whole school, and any single classroom can still vary, but they're a reasonable sign of stability.

The data record lists 34 AP courses offered, more than the 24 the school's own website states [courses]. Either way, that's a substantial range of AP options for a single high school. It's worth asking on a visit which number is current, and how those courses are distributed across grade levels.

$23,522 per student, almost exactly the state average of $23,518 [finance]. That tells you the school isn't spending unusually more or less than most California schools. Spending near the average tells you little on its own.

Part of the campus sits on California State Historical Site 522, built over a freshwater spring historically used by the Gabrieleno Tongva people for centuries (school website). It's a detail that has nothing to do with test scores, but it's worth knowing if you're choosing a place your child will spend four years.