Best High Schools in California for Foster Care Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in California!

Every year, the California Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Foster Care students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish California test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the CAST and Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the California Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2018)							Ranking (Foster Care vs All Students - 2024)
ID	Rank (of 12)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Statewide Rank Percentile (Foster Care)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Foster Care)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
060282000203	1	Antelope Valley High	Public	9-12	44900 North Division St.	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 948-8552	1,512	70	21.7	78.9%	46 (3.0%)	434 (28.7%)	966 (63.9%)	10 (0.7%)	5 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	49 (3.2%)	$9,455							91.7%	28.5%	63.21%
060282011346	2	William J. (Pete) Knight High	Public	9-12	37423 70th St. East	Palmdale	93552	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 533-9000	2,520	114	22	65.2%	79 (3.1%)	332 (13.2%)	1,997 (79.2%)	42 (1.7%)	4 (0.2%)	2 (0.1%)	64 (2.5%)	$7,973							83.3%	42.9%	40.41%
060282000204	3	Desert Winds Continuation High	Public	9-12	415 East Kettering St.	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 948-7555	623	28	22.4	78.5%	34 (5.5%)	187 (30.0%)	357 (57.3%)	3 (0.5%)	1 (0.2%)	1 (0.2%)	40 (6.4%)	$5,622							75.0%	5.9%	69.06%
060282010823	4	Eastside High	Public	9-12	3200 East Ave. J-8	Lancaster	93535	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 946-3800	2,592	106	24.4	70.8%	101 (3.9%)	563 (21.7%)	1,765 (68.1%)	35 (1.4%)	7 (0.3%)	5 (0.2%)	116 (4.5%)	$8,601							66.7%	30.5%	36.15%
069103012159	5	San Pasqual Academy	Public	9-12	17701 San Pasqual Valley Rd.	Escondido	92025	San Diego County	San Diego County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 233-6003	32	7	4.5	90.6%	7 (21.9%)	8 (25.0%)	14 (43.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (9.4%)	$20,114							58.3%	27.0%	31.30%
060282009515	6	Highland High	Public	9-12	39055 25th St. West	Palmdale	93551	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 538-0304	2,778	111	25	62.0%	201 (7.2%)	427 (15.4%)	1,918 (69.0%)	99 (3.6%)	9 (0.3%)	10 (0.4%)	114 (4.1%)	$8,963							50.0%	39.5%	10.48%
060285005724	7	Deer Valley High	Public	9-12	4700 Lone Tree Way	Antioch	94531	Contra Costa County	Antioch Unified	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(925) 779-7570	1,804	85	21.2	75.8%	158 (8.8%)	527 (29.2%)	724 (40.1%)	273 (15.1%)	8 (0.4%)	14 (0.8%)	93 (5.2%)	$7,603							41.7%	48.1%	6.46%
069102907174	8	San Bernardino County Special Education	Public, Alternative	K-12	1950 S Sunwest Ln.	San Bernardino	92408	San Bernardino County	San Bernardino County Office of Education	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(909) 387-8511	1,706	152	11.2	77.0%	280 (16.4%)	240 (14.1%)	994 (58.3%)	67 (3.9%)	13 (0.8%)	5 (0.3%)	106 (6.2%)	$62,987							33.3%	1.3%	32.00%
060256611863	9	Riverside Preparatory	Public, Charter, Alternative	K-12	19121 Third St.	Oro Grande	92368	San Bernardino County	Riverside Preparatory District	Yes	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(760) 243-5884	2,401	114	21	80.1%	359 (15.0%)	413 (17.2%)	1,480 (61.6%)	35 (1.5%)	26 (1.1%)	20 (0.8%)	67 (2.8%)								25.0%	32.9%	7.89%
060282004582	10	Lancaster High	Public	9-12	44701 32nd St. West	Lancaster	93536	Los Angeles County	Antelope Valley Union High	No	(n/a)	No	(n/a)	(661) 726-7649	2,697	108	24.9	63.6%	280 (10.4%)	627 (23.2%)	1,520 (56.4%)	109 (4.0%)	8 (0.3%)	2 (0.1%)	151 (5.6%)	$8,800							16.7%	34.3%	17.60%

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for California

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for CA student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on CAST Science, Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts/Literacy, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics test scores released by the California Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 10, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the California Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the California Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education.