High School Programs

How do other districts organize their high schools?

San Francisco’s High School Task Force has been rumbling along for over a year and is supposed to report soon. I thought it would be interesting to look at how other districts organize their high schools, what their admissions policies are, and what programs they offer to their students.

The only way to gather this information is by laboriously checking school and district websites. To make the process manageable, I limited my search to the districts identified in my last post as most comparable to San Francisco and to those deemed comparable in the Board of Supervisors report on district administrative costs. That gave me a set of just over 20. It’s entirely possible that there are some great ideas out there that I just missed because they’re being implemented in districts I didn’t look at.

The High School Landscape

The Standard Model

Most districts follow a standard pattern for their high schools:

• The district has one or more traditional high schools. Your residence determines which high school you are assigned to.

• Each high school is a comprehensive high school that tries to serve all the children within its boundaries. It offers honors classes in every grade and a broad range of AP classes. It also offers Career Technical Education (CTE) classes and access to courses at local community colleges. It will have one or more support programs such as Avid or Puente.

• Each district also has a continuation school for children who have previously dropped out or are at risk of dropping out.

• The district may offer an independent study school or other types of alternative school that students can choose to attend instead of their school of residence.

This standard pattern is so pervasive that I’ll generally comment only on exceptions to it.

If we look at all the unified and high school districts in the state, and exclude charter schools, we find 1,863 schools that serve up to grade 12.

• 1,029 (55%) are traditional public high schools. The majority of these have attendance areas but there are plenty that do not.

• 416 (22%) are continuation high schools. There are so many of them because most districts, even small ones, have one. Some districts have more than one. SFUSD has two. Elk Grove and Oakland have three. East Side UH has four.

• 246 (13%) are “alternative schools of choice”. The only thing they have in common is that they don’t have attendance areas: students have to choose to attend them.

• 172 (9%) are a mix of Community Day Schools (75), Special Education Schools (46), Opportunity Schools (6), Home and Hospital Schools (4), K-12 schools (39)

I’m going to ignore continuation schools and community day schools because prospective high school students don’t apply to them. Students typically end up at them if they are at risk of dropping out. But it’s necessary to include the alternative schools in any discussion because the distinction between traditional and alternative schools is blurry. Independent study schools are always alternative schools but Arts schools, Early College High Schools, Middle College High Schools, and magnet schools are sometimes set up by their districts as alternative schools and sometimes as traditional schools.

For reference, San Francisco has seventeen high schools: ten traditional, two continuation (Downtown and Wells), and five alternative: Asawa School of the Arts, Independence High (independent study), International High (designed for newcomers to the US), Academy at McAteer and Jordan School for Equity. It is not clear to me why some of these schools have Alternative School status. You’ll often see the district say that it has fourteen comprehensive high schools because it excludes Independence and the two continuation schools from the count.

Alternative schools are generally small. 88% of alternative schools have fewer than 600 students whereas only 20% of traditional high schools have fewer than 600. Four of San Francisco’s five alternative schools and three of its traditional high schools (Marshall, O’Connell, and Wallenberg) have fewer than 600 students.

Although many districts stick to the standard model outlined above, others offer a mix of schools. The three with the most eclectic mixes are San Diego, Long Beach, and Oakland.

San Diego

San Diego Unified is divided into seventeen high-school attendance areas but there are some areas where students have the choice of two high schools. Most of those seventeen areas are served by a standard traditional high school but one site is home to four small autonomous high schools: a School of Biomedical Science and Technology, a School of College Connections, a School of Digital Media & Design, and a School of Engineering, Design, and Innovation. Another school, San Diego High, was also formerly divided into small theme-based schools but in 2021 they were combined back into one school.

San Diego also has a School of Creative and Performing Arts serving grades 6-12 and three alternative schools. One is a K-12 independent study school. Another, San Diego Met, is located on the campus of San Diego Mesa College and offers a mix of independent study and internships: The third is a Middle College located at San Diego City College. To round things off, it has two special ed schools, 1 community day school, two continuation schools, and one K-12 opportunity school for students with IEPs and moderate to severe disabilities.

Long Beach

Long Beach has six high schools with attendance areas. It has five other “traditional” high schools that don’t have attendance areas: two Math and Science schools, an Arts school, an Early College High, and a school focused on CTE pathways. Its one alternative school is an independent study school and it has a single continuation school. It also has a K-12 school that serves Santa Catalina Island.

Oakland

Despite being smaller than San Francisco, Oakland has nineteen high schools. There are six conventional high schools, three 6-12 schools, three continuation schools, a school that focuses on independent study and internships (but which nevertheless is classified as a traditional school), an independent study school, a school for newcomers, a small school focused on social justice, a young adult special education school, and a home and hospital school

Attendance Areas

All districts bar San Francisco have a concept of an attendance area for high schools but they vary in how flexible they are about enabling families to choose high schools other than their attendance area school.

Oakland is the closest to San Francisco’s open enrollment. Everyone has an attendance area school but families can rank up to six other schools higher than the neighborhood school. Students who reside within the neighborhood boundaries of a school receive a higher priority for that school than other district residents. The assignment algorithm triangulates the number of available seats, the priorities established by the district (i.e. first continuing students, then foster youth, then siblings, then residents of the neighborhood, then children of staff) and family choice. It is not clear to this reader exactly how the triangulation algorithm works. In particular, it seems as if families might have an incentive to not reveal their true preferences in order to game the algorithm.

Some districts have areas that are assigned to two schools (e.g. San Diego, East Side Union High). Students who live in the shared attendance area can choose to attend either of the schools.

Many districts have an “open enrollment” policy. A student can apply to attend any high school in the district but students who reside in each school’s attendance area always have priority. When residents of the school’s attendance area get priority, there may be a limited number of spaces available to applicants from other attendance areas. In Corona-Norco, “each school is required to serve the students who live within its attendance boundary before accepting students outside the boundary.” In Elk Grove, the five schools with the lowest enrollment are “open enrollment”, meaning anyone can choose to transfer into them.

• West Contra Costa has a priority system for determining which transfer / open enrollment requests will be permitted.

• In Alhambra, intra-district transfers are allowed but must be approved by the principal of the school of residence and the principal of the requested school.

• In San Jose, residents of the attendance area get top priority followed by “students who choose a voluntary integrative transfer that aids socio-economic diversity” followed by siblings. Aiding socio-economic diversity means that a student whose address is designated as low socio-economic status can transfer into a school that is designated high socio-economic status and a student whose address is designated as high socio-economic status can transfer into a school that is designated as low socio-economic status. In addition, students who had VPA concentrations in middle school get guaranteed placement in high schools with VPA concentrations. Same for dual-language immersion students who wish to continue with those programs in high school.

• San Diego has a Voluntary Enrollment Exchange Program (VEEP). Each elementary school attendance area is matched with a high school in a different part of the city. Residents can choose to attend that other high school instead of their local high school. If they do, they may qualify for district-provided transportation. Otherwise, the assignment of students to schools is done using this algorithm.

Admissions Policies

This section will cover schools that have some criteria for admission other than residence in an attendance area. It will also cover schools that offer non-traditional setups that admit students by lottery.

Long Beach

Long Beach’s attendance area schools offer a mix of pathways and programs. When applying for high school, students apply not just to schools but to particular programs or pathways at schools. Some of those programs have selective admission. For example, three of the attendance area schools have liberal arts programs which require a minimum GPA of 3.7, completion of Algebra in 8th grade, and a minimum 7th grade ELA SBAC score of 2550 (which is around the 50th percentile). Other programs in other schools have less stringent requirements (e.g. a minimum GPA of 2.0). Pathways with academic requirements give no priority to students who live in the attendance area of the school. Other pathways have no minimum requirements and those do give priority to neighborhood residents. If demand for a program/pathway exceeds the space available, admission is usually by high to low GPA but one school uses random selection of qualified applicants.

Long Beach also has some specialist schools:

• California Academy of Math and Science (CAMS) is sui generis. It is operated by Long Beach Unified but it is situated outside the district on the grounds of CSU Dominguez Hills and its attendance area spans Long Beach and nine other districts plus parts of Los Angeles Unified. Admission is by high to low STEM index (which factors in SBAC scores) but there is a cap of two (sic) admits per Long Beach middle school.

• Sato Academy of Math and Science is a Biomedical and Engineering STEM school. It’s basically CAMS but just for Long Beach students. Its Engineering and Architecture pathway is certified as Gold by the Linked Learning Alliance. The minimum requirements for entry are a 3.0 GPA and completion of 8th grade algebra. Students are admitted by high-to-low GPA.

Fullerton Joint Union High

Fullerton’s La Habra High offers a “Heritage Humanities California Magnet Program” with two separate program pathways: Traditional Heritage and Honors/AP Heritage. Each pathway has specific course requirements. Admission to the Honors/AP Heritage requires that a student be a current Honors/GATE student with a minimum 3.0 GPA and highly recommends having above grade-level reading. The application process requires submitting teacher evaluations and an essay in addition to a transcript. The typical admitted student has a GPA above 3.5. Admission to Traditional Heritage has no minimum GPA requirement but a 2.5 GPA or better is highly recommended.

ABC Unified

Whitney High School admits students by test. Students must score in the 75th percentile or higher on a standardized test to be eligible for admission. Twenty students are selected from each of the five middle schools' geographic attendance areas based on the highest test scores ranked from high to low. Fifty-two further slots are allocated by elementary school with 2-3 slots per school. Ten spots are available to private school students who reside within ABC’s boundaries and three to children of ABC employees who do not reside within ABC’s boundaries. In all, 10%-12% of ABC’s HS students attend Whitney. By comparison, 17% of San Francisco’s students attend Lowell.

Thanks to its high graduation rates for disadvantaged pupils, ABC’s Artesia HS was the subject of a 2017 book some years ago (see excerpts part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5). Artesia has an Accelerated Learning Academy magnet program. Another ABC school, Gahr, is a STEAM magnet school with specializations for students in Biomedical Sciences, Engineering, and Arts Technology. Artesia and Gahr have attendance areas but 80 9th grade seats in each area set aside for students from elsewhere in the district and are allocated via lottery.

Sacramento City Unified

Sacramento has three “criteria-based high school options for a rigorous, challenging education.” Each program has specific criteria for admittance. It is not clear what those criteria are but students who meet program entrance requirements are awarded seats via a lottery system. 

• West Campus (so called because it used to be an annex of another school before separating off) admissions involve a review of middle school transcripts and a mathematics testing session but it’s unclear how decisions are made. West Campus declares that it is not a comprehensive school, it is a college preparatory school. Students are required to maintain a 2.5 GPA.

• McClatchy Humanities and International Studies Program (HISP). Selection for HISP—an open enrollment opportunity district-wide—”is highly competitive and entails additional requirements, including an essay exam, submission of transcripts, test scores, and teacher recommendations.” HISP has additional requirements both academic and extracurricular (community service and cultural event attendance). McClatchy has four other Speciality Programs (Air Force Junior ROTC, Criminal Justice Academy, Law and Public Policy Academy, Visual and Performing Arts) but those do not seem to have selective admissions.

• JFK Program in Advanced Curricular Exploration (PACE) is designed to prepare students to pursue the AP Capstone Diploma/Certificate. The 9th and 10 grade English Language Arts class prepares students for the volume and rigor of reading and writing necessary to succeed in many AP courses and in the AP Seminar and AP Research courses required to earn an AP Capstone Diploma/Certificate. JFK also has a Criminal Justice Academy, a Manufacturing and Design program, and a Marine JROTC.

• George Washington Carver School of Arts and Science is the first public Waldorf methods high school in California (there is a private Waldorf high school in San Francisco). Carver admits students based on a review of the transcript, behavior, and attendance but it’s not clear how it decides whom to admit.

Tustin Unified

Tustin has a Legacy Magnet Academy which is a 6-12 magnet school with a focus on Technology, Innovation, Design, and Entrepreneurship. It has a small attendance area but also admits students from outside its area by lottery so it’s a mix of a traditional school and a magnet school.

Fresno

In addition to seven regular residence-based high schools, Fresno has three magnet schools with application lotteries: a Polytechnic High, Design Science Middle College High, and a School for Entrepreneurs. One of its residence-based high schools has a magnet arts programs (Roosevelt School of the Arts) embedded within it.

Santa Ana

Santa Ana has two “fundamental” high schools. One of the fundamental schools admits students purely based on a lottery. The other gives priority to those residing inside its attendance area and uses a lottery to fill its remaining spots. In case you’re wondering what a fundamental high school is:

All parents, students, and staff must sign an agreement and abide by that agreement in completing assignments, maintaining good attendance habits, and complying with the various other policies of the school. As a fundamental high school, Segerstrom provides a comprehensive, standards-based core curriculum grounded on high expectations and accountability for all. Primary emphasis is on a highly structured program of basic academic literacy skills and enrichment with additional emphasis on the establishment of strong study and organizational skills. The school seeks to instill within each student a sense of responsibility, positive self-image and pride in accomplishment. Literacy is the focal point, with students expected to practice the pillars of Student Learning Outcomes (Resilience, Ownership, Achievement and Respect) through the written process.

Arts Schools

Several districts have specialist Arts programs, some of which have selective admission and some of which don’t.

• San Diego’s School of Creative and Performing Arts is open to students throughout San Diego County, not just those who live within the area served by San Diego Unified. Admission requires auditions. (A frequent criticism of SFUSD’s Asawa School of the Arts is that the audition process leads to too many White students and too few students from poor families. SCPA, despite also having audition-based admissions, does not have these issues. )

• Long Beach’s Renaissance High School for the Arts is a magnet high school. As such, there are no auditions and admission is by lottery. It does not rank as one of the frequently selected programs in the district.

• Fresno has a magnet arts programs (Roosevelt School of the Arts) embedded within one of its residence-based high schools. The Arts program is open to everyone in the district, not just those in Roosevelt’s attendance area: there are no auditions and admission is by lottery.

• Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts is a magnet program located on the Huntington Beach High School campus. Students may attend any high school in the district and attend afternoon classes at APA. Admission requires a written application, an audition, and recommendations.

• In San Jose, students who had VPA concentrations in middle school get guaranteed placement in high schools that offer VPA concentrations.

Independent Study Schools

Many districts have independent study schools, including: Elk Grove, Santa Clara (Wilson High), Corona-Norco (Academy of Innovation), San Jose, West Contra Costa (Vista Independent Study / Virtual Academy), Oakland, Fresno (J.E. Young Academic Center), Clovis (Enterprise Alternative), Fullerton (La Sierra), Huntington Beach (Coast High), San Diego (Mt. Everest), Tustin (Tustin Connect)

Fresno’s J.E. Young offers an unusual combination of online learning, career technical education courses, and Fresno City College Dual Enrollment programs.

Long Beach’s Educational Partnership High, is an alternative education high school specializing in independent study. Its purpose is to provide students with an alternative academic environment that enables students to get back on track and return to the comprehensive high school or to extend their high school education beyond the traditional. It is common for some students to need an extended amount of time (years) in order to meet the graduation requirements. Most students are 11th or 12th grade.

The second part of this report, to be published later today, will cover AP classes, college classes, CTE programs, school size, and funding issues. It will have graphs.