1
Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Desert Junior-Senior High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
497
High
DISTRICT 258 · STATE 838
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MUROC JOINT UNIFIED·NCES 062649003995
Desert Junior-Senior High
1575 Payne Ave., Edwards, CA 93523 · (760) 306-4964 · Kern County
GRADES 07–12HIGH42-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL497 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of California public high schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded California public high schools
Student : Teacher
16.5:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 60.8:1 · STATE 18.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
13%
66 students
DISTRICT 42% · STATE 65%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 102 | 21% |
| Grade 8 | 95 | 19% |
| Grade 9 | 100 | 20% |
| Grade 10 | 75 | 15% |
| Grade 11 | 62 | 12% |
| Grade 12 | 63 | 13% |
Student demographics
70%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · STATE 62% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
CAASPP 2024-25 . % met or exceeded standardEnglish Language Arts
44.8%
CA avg 49.1% . -8.2pp since 2014
Math
15.2%
CA avg 37.7% . -16.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 15 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all California schools, those numbers are about 49 and 38. Reading and writing scores are down about 8 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 17 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 11.1% | 33.7% | 30.9% | 24.2% |
| Math | 3.6% | 11.6% | 32.8% | 52.0% |
Share of tested students at each CAASPP level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
CAASPP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.8% | 15.2% |
| 2023-24 | 36.6% | 18.3% |
| 2022-23 | 33.9% | 19.0% |
| 2021-22 | 47.5% | 27.0% |
| 2020-21 | 54.7% | 24.8% |
| 2018-19 | 58.0% | 37.4% |
| 2017-18 | 51.1% | 31.4% |
| 2016-17 | 50.2% | 32.8% |
| 2015-16 | 51.0% | 33.0% |
| 2014-15 | 53.0% | 32.0% |
% met or exceeded standard, all students and all tested grades.
Source: CAASPP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of CA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
29.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.8%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-42.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 29% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 72% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Desert Junior-Senior High
Desert Junior-Senior High's state test result (29.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Junior-Senior High this school | 497 | 13.3% | 29.3% |
| Terra Nova High Pacifica | 740 | 14.9% | 50.1% |
| El Segundo High El Segundo | 1,232 | 12.7% | 72.5% |
| Grove Redlands | 262 | 22.5% | N/A |
| Castaic High Castaic | 1,159 | 22.4% | 52.7% |
| Coronado High Coronado | 999 | 14.6% | 64.0% |
Matched among California high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Desert Junior-Senior High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Kern County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.3% | #823 of 1,052 | #23 of 34 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 15.2% | #829 of 1,056 ▼ 170 | #21 of 34 ▼ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.8% | #809 of 1,056 ▲ 115 | #24 of 34 ▲ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -7.3pp | #75 of 1,044 | #2 of 32 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 497 | #1,029 of 2,093 | #31 of 48 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.5:1 | #185 of 1,352 | #6 of 38 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 70.4% | #109 of 1,351 | #1 of 38 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 13.3% | #1,529 of 1,575 | #39 of 39 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -2.0% | #742 of 802 | #13 of 14 |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
497
+2 (+0%) vs 2020
-30% since 1990-91, when it was 706
Student : Teacher
16.5:1
was 18.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 497 | 30.2 | 16.5:1 | 13% (66) |
| 2023-24 | 458 | 29.8 | 15.4:1 | 12% (57) |
| 2022-23 | 442 | 26.9 | 16.4:1 | 11% (47) |
| 2020-21 | 495 | 27 | 18.3:1 | 11% (56) |
| 2017-18 | 507 | 28.3 | 17.9:1 | 11% (57) |
| 2015-16 | 579 | 28 | 20.7:1 | 13% (73) |
| 2010-11 | 634 | N/A | N/A | 7% (47) |
| 2000-01 | 688 | 30 | 22.9:1 | 17% (114) |
| 1990-91 | 706 | 37 | 19.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Desert Junior-Senior High.
Since 2017-18: students down 2% (507 to 497); teachers up 7% (28.3 to 30.2).
About Desert Junior-Senior High
Desert Junior-Senior High, a small high school, is located in Edwards, California. The school offers grades 7 through 12 and enrolls 497 students. The school is 41% below the average for high schools in California.
The 6 schools in Muroc Joint Unified enroll 1,803 students altogether, Desert Junior-Senior High among them.
No group is above 50% at Desert Junior-Senior High; the largest is White, at 36%. Other reported shares: 36% Hispanic, 17% multiracial, 5% Black, and 5% Asian. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 70%.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 16.5:1. The school has 30.2 full-time-equivalent teachers. Across high schools in California, the average ratio is 18.2:1. Federal data show 13% of students (66) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The gap from the 76% average for public schools in Kern County is 63 points.
On the allk12 Grade, Desert Junior-Senior High lands at F, ahead of 4% of California public high schools.
Desert Junior-Senior High trails its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results by 42.5 points (29.3% versus 71.8%), a bottom-10% result in California on BeatsExpectations.
In Kern County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $70,210, about 19% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 15%. The county has 279 public schools and about 197,431 students.
A public school about 0.1 miles away, Irving L. Branch Elementary, is the closest to Desert Junior-Senior High. Inside a five-mile radius, there are 2 other public schools. Among 5 nearby schools that report test results, Desert Junior-Senior High ranks 2nd on proficiency.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Rural: Distant: in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
In 2020-21, Desert Junior-Senior High enrolled 495; in 2024-25, 497. Its ratio of students to teachers was 18.3:1 in 2020-21, and 16.5:1 in 2024-25.
The discussion board for Desert Junior-Senior High is open to topics like pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Kern County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
915,075
Census ACS
Median income
$70,210
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
279
197,431 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Muroc Joint Unified
- Irving L. Branch ElementaryElementary · 388 students
- William A. Bailey ElementaryElementary · 366 students
- West Boron ElementaryElementary · 276 students
- Boron Junior-Senior HighHigh · 253 students
- McGowan (Robert) High (Continuation)High · 23 students
Other schools in Edwards
- Irving L. Branch ElementaryElementary · 388 students
- William A. Bailey ElementaryElementary · 366 students
Nearby schools
- Irving L. Branch Elementary0.1 mi · 388
- William A. Bailey Elementary0.3 mi · 366
- California City Middle12.8 mi · 478
- Hacienda Elementary12.9 mi · 497
- Rosamond Elementary13.4 mi · 822
- Robert P. Ulrich Elementary13.7 mi · 503
Frequently asked questions
About Desert Junior-Senior HighHow large is Desert Junior-Senior High?
Desert Junior-Senior High enrolls approximately 497 students in grades 07-12.
What grades does Desert Junior-Senior High serve?
Desert Junior-Senior High serves grades 07-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Desert Junior-Senior High?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Desert Junior-Senior High is approximately 16.5:1 (30 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Desert Junior-Senior High?
At Desert Junior-Senior High, the student body is approximately 36% White, 36% Hispanic, 5% Black, 5% Asian, 17% Two or more.
What district is Desert Junior-Senior High in?
Desert Junior-Senior High is part of Muroc Joint Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.