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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Northgate High administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,546
High
DISTRICT 824 · STATE 838
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MT. DIABLO UNIFIED·NCES 062637003961
Northgate High
425 Castle Rock Rd., Walnut Creek, CA 94598 · (925) 938-0900 · Contra Costa County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL1,546 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
23.1:1
67 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.2:1 · STATE 18.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
22%
346 students
DISTRICT 56% · 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 | 399 | 26% |
| Grade 10 | 397 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 373 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 377 | 24% |
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
73.7%
CA avg 49.1% . -9.3pp since 2014
Math
51.0%
CA avg 37.7% . -9.0pp since 2014
What this means: On the CAASPP, California's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 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 9 points since 2014, while math scores are down about 9 points.
Performance levels, 2024-25
| Subject | Standard Exceeded | Standard Met | Standard Nearly Met | Standard Not Met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English Language Arts | 46.5% | 27.2% | 13.9% | 12.5% |
| Math | 29.3% | 21.7% | 21.7% | 27.3% |
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 | 73.7% | 51.0% |
| 2023-24 | 76.7% | 56.9% |
| 2022-23 | 80.7% | 53.6% |
| 2021-22 | 86.5% | 59.2% |
| 2020-21 | 84.9% | 64.8% |
| 2018-19 | 79.3% | 63.4% |
| 2017-18 | 76.4% | 60.1% |
| 2016-17 | 80.9% | 61.6% |
| 2015-16 | 75.0% | 61.0% |
| 2014-15 | 83.0% | 60.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
64.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
66.4%
based on CA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 65% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 66% typical for California schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among California's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Northgate High
Northgate High's state test result (64.5% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northgate High this school | 1,546 | 22.4% | 64.5% |
| Whitney High Rocklin | 2,041 | 20.9% | 58.8% |
| Granite Bay High Granite Bay | 2,036 | 25.0% | 69.0% |
| Tesoro High Las Flores | 2,030 | 23.4% | 73.2% |
| Las Lomas High Walnut Creek | 1,577 | 15.4% | 63.6% |
| Westlake High Westlake Village | 1,900 | 17.7% | 59.0% |
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 Northgate High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In California | In Contra Costa County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 64.5% | #131 of 1,052 | #8 of 28 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.0% | #154 of 1,056 ▼ 60 | #10 of 28 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.7% | #186 of 1,056 ▼ 55 | #10 of 28 ▼ 2 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -10.5pp | #35 of 1,044 | #1 of 28 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,546 | #545 of 2,093 | #14 of 54 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 23.1:1 | #1,007 of 1,352 | #30 of 41 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.7% | #128 of 1,351 | #10 of 41 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 22.4% | #1,471 of 1,575 | #35 of 45 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.5% | #275 of 327 | #5 of 6 |
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
1,546
+54 (+4%) vs 2020
+25% since 1990-91, when it was 1,234
Student : Teacher
23.1:1
was 24.5:1
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 | 1,546 | 66.9 | 23.1:1 | 22% (346) |
| 2023-24 | 1,535 | 65.4 | 23.5:1 | 10% (154) |
| 2022-23 | 1,507 | 62.4 | 24.1:1 | 10% (148) |
| 2020-21 | 1,492 | 61 | 24.5:1 | 11% (164) |
| 2017-18 | 1,523 | 68.3 | 22.3:1 | 11% (175) |
| 2015-16 | 1,599 | 66 | 24.2:1 | 9% (147) |
| 2010-11 | 1,490 | N/A | N/A | 5% (76) |
| 2000-01 | 1,533 | 64 | 23.9:1 | 1% (20) |
| 1990-91 | 1,234 | 53 | 23.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Northgate High.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (1,523 to 1,546); teachers down 2% (68.3 to 66.9).
About Northgate High
Northgate High is classified as a high school. It is located in Walnut Creek, California. Grades offered run from 9 through 12, with 1,546 students enrolled. The average among high schools in California is roughly 838 students; this school is 84% larger than that.
Northgate High is one school in Mt. Diablo Unified, a system of 50 schools with 29,210 students.
Federal enrollment data show White students as the largest group at Northgate High, at 46%. Beyond that, enrollment is 19% multiracial, 17% Asian, and 17% Hispanic. Pick two students at random and there is a 70% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
At Northgate High, 66.9 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 23.1:1. That is higher than the 18.2:1 average for high schools in California. Roughly 22% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The 45% average for public schools in Contra Costa County is 23 points higher.
After adjusting for student poverty, Northgate High lands between the top and bottom 10% of California schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 64.5%; the prediction is 66.4%.
Among Contra Costa County residents, the median household income is $127,229, about 45% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Besides Northgate High, Contra Costa County has 279 other public schools.
The closest public school, Eagle Peak Montessori, is about 0.3 miles from Northgate High. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Northgate High is 6th on average proficiency.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Small: inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment grew 4% from its 2020-21 level of 1,492. The ratio of students to teachers went from 24.5:1 to 23.1:1 over the same years.
Parents and students can post about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater at Northgate High. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Contra Costa County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,165,012
Census ACS
Median income
$127,229
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
45%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
280
167,423 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mt. Diablo Unified
- College Park HighHigh · 1,948 students
- Mt. Diablo HighHigh · 1,397 students
- Concord HighHigh · 1,137 students
- Ygnacio Valley HighHigh · 1,059 students
- Foothill MiddleMiddle · 1,005 students
- Sequoia MiddleMiddle · 882 students
Other schools in Walnut Creek
- Las Lomas HighHigh · 1,577 students
- Foothill MiddleMiddle · 1,005 students
- Walnut Creek IntermediateMiddle · 940 students
- Walnut Acres ElementaryElementary · 689 students
- Bancroft ElementaryElementary · 672 students
- Buena Vista ElementaryElementary · 495 students
Other Northgate High schools
One other US public school is named Northgate High. Northgate High is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Northgate High SchoolNewnan, GA · 2,142 students
Nearby schools
- Eagle Peak Montessori0.3 mi · 301
- Walnut Acres Elementary1.0 mi · 689
- Foothill Middle1.0 mi · 1,005
- Indian Valley Elementary1.4 mi · 355
- Contra Costa School of Performing Arts1.8 mi · 285
- Valle Verde Elementary1.8 mi · 485
Frequently asked questions
About Northgate HighHow many students attend Northgate High?
Northgate High enrolls approximately 1,546 students in grades 09-12.
Is Northgate High an elementary, middle, or high school?
Northgate High is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Northgate High have?
Northgate High employs 67 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 23.1:1.
How diverse is Northgate High?
Northgate High reports a student body of 46% White, 17% Hispanic, 1% Black, 17% Asian, 19% Two or more.
What district is Northgate High in?
Northgate High is part of Mt. Diablo Unified.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.