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What advice would you give to incoming students at Mountain Empire High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
412
High
DISTRICT 152 · STATE 838
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MOUNTAIN EMPIRE UNIFIED·NCES 062610003906
Mountain Empire High
3305 Buckman Springs Rd., Pine Valley, CA 91962 · (619) 473-8601 · San Diego County
GRADES 09–12HIGH42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL412 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 10% 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.
- B+Three-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
18.8:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 18.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
173 students
DISTRICT 63% · 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 9 | 120 | 29% |
| Grade 10 | 99 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 106 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 87 | 21% |
Student demographics
51%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 51% · 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
33.0%
CA avg 49.1% . -11.0pp since 2014
Math
14.8%
CA avg 37.7% . +3.8pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 33 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 11 points since 2014, while math scores are up about 4 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 11.4% | 21.6% | 26.1% | 40.9% |
| Math | 5.7% | 9.1% | 18.2% | 67.0% |
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 | 33.0% | 14.8% |
| 2023-24 | 42.9% | 20.0% |
| 2022-23 | 34.1% | 13.2% |
| 2021-22 | 27.7% | 7.4% |
| 2020-21 | 38.1% | 13.2% |
| 2018-19 | 43.2% | 15.8% |
| 2017-18 | 44.3% | 25.3% |
| 2016-17 | 49.4% | 16.7% |
| 2015-16 | 30.0% | 6.0% |
| 2014-15 | 44.0% | 11.0% |
% 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
27.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.9%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-27.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 28% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 55% 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 Mountain Empire High
Mountain Empire High's state test result (27.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 3 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Empire High this school | 412 | 42.0% | 27.6% |
| Mammoth High Mammoth Lakes | 330 | 38.5% | 42.0% |
| Saint Helena High St. Helena | 416 | 36.8% | 50.4% |
| High Tech High North County San Marcos | 409 | 41.6% | N/A |
| High Tech High Media Arts San Diego | 355 | 43.1% | N/A |
| Academy of Careers and Exploration Helendale | 285 | 45.3% | 32.1% |
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 Mountain Empire High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In California | In San Diego County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 27.6% | #868 of 1,052 | #64 of 70 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 14.8% | #838 of 1,056 ▼ 226 | #65 of 70 ▼ 15 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 33.0% | #977 of 1,056 ▼ 159 | #68 of 70 ▼ 9 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +6.3pp | #289 of 1,044 | #20 of 70 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 412 | #1,098 of 2,093 | #78 of 135 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.8:1 | #376 of 1,352 | #16 of 96 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 50.7% | #662 of 1,351 | #66 of 97 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 42.0% | #1,258 of 1,575 | #85 of 112 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.9% | #191 of 327 | #10 of 17 |
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
412
-20 (-5%) vs 2020
-20% since 1990-91, when it was 514
Student : Teacher
18.8:1
was 20.6:1
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 | 412 | 21.9 | 18.8:1 | 42% (173) |
| 2023-24 | 422 | 22.4 | 18.9:1 | 52% (218) |
| 2022-23 | 433 | 21.8 | 19.9:1 | 48% (208) |
| 2020-21 | 432 | 21 | 20.6:1 | 54% (232) |
| 2017-18 | 389 | 22.3 | 17.4:1 | 67% (261) |
| 2015-16 | 384 | 25 | 15.4:1 | 63% (243) |
| 2010-11 | 407 | N/A | N/A | 71% (287) |
| 2000-01 | 469 | 21 | 22.3:1 | 43% (204) |
| 1990-91 | 514 | 25 | 20.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Mountain Empire High.
Since 2017-18: students up 6% (389 to 412); teachers down 2% (22.3 to 21.9).
About Mountain Empire High
Among the schools in Pine Valley, California, is Mountain Empire High, a small high school. Classes run from 9 through 12, and the school has 412 students. The average for high schools in California is about 838 students, so this school is 51% smaller than average.
Mountain Empire Unified is responsible for 8 schools, Mountain Empire High included, with 1,738 students in all.
At Mountain Empire High, Hispanic students make up 63% of the student body. The remaining shares are 30% White and 3% multiracial. The county population is about 35% Hispanic. Mountain Empire High's diversity index is 51%, against a US figure of 70%.
Federal staffing data show 21.9 full-time-equivalent teachers at Mountain Empire High and a ratio of 18.8:1. That matches the 18.2:1 average for high schools in California fairly closely. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 42% of enrollment. For comparison, public schools in San Diego County average 54%.
The allk12 Grade for Mountain Empire High is D. Compared with California public high schools, the school scored higher than 10% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Mountain Empire High is in the bottom 10% of California schools on the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure. Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the model predicts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 54.9%. The school's actual rate is 27.6%, 27.3 points lower.
Census estimates describe San Diego County this way: the median household income is $106,268, about 43% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 7%. In all, San Diego County has 766 public schools and roughly 467,437 students.
Mountain Empire Junior High is located less than a tenth of a mile from Mountain Empire High. The ten-mile area around Mountain Empire High holds 5 other public schools. Mountain Empire High comes in 2nd of 6 nearby schools on average proficiency.
Mountain Empire High has an NCES locale of Rural: Distant.
Over 4 years, Mountain Empire High's enrollment declined 5%, to 412. The school's ratio fell from 20.6:1 to 18.8:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Conversations here can range across enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
San Diego County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,288,774
Census ACS
Median income
$106,268
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
43%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
766
467,437 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mountain Empire Unified
- Campo ElementaryElementary · 359 students
- Potrero ElementaryElementary · 300 students
- Mountain Empire Junior HighMiddle · 245 students
- Clover Flat ElementaryElementary · 190 students
- Descanso ElementaryElementary · 188 students
- Hillside Junior/Senior HighHigh · 31 students
Other schools in Pine Valley
- Mountain Empire Junior HighMiddle · 245 students
- JCS - Pine ValleyCombined · 184 students
- Hillside Junior/Senior HighHigh · 31 students
- Sunrise High (Continuation)High · 13 students
- Cottonwood Community DayHigh
- Mountain Empire Special Education PreschoolElementary
Nearby schools
- Mountain Empire Junior High0.0 mi · 245
- Hillside Junior/Senior High6.3 mi · 31
- Sunrise High (Continuation)6.3 mi · 13
- Campo Elementary6.3 mi · 359
- JCS - Pine Valley6.4 mi · 184
- Potrero Elementary11.0 mi · 300
Frequently asked questions
About Mountain Empire HighHow large is Mountain Empire High?
Mountain Empire High enrolls approximately 412 students in grades 09-12.
Is Mountain Empire High an elementary, middle, or high school?
Mountain Empire High is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Mountain Empire High?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Mountain Empire High is approximately 18.8:1 (22 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Mountain Empire High?
At Mountain Empire High, the student body is approximately 30% White, 63% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Mountain Empire High public or private?
Mountain Empire High is a public K-12 school, overseen by Mountain Empire Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.