Atascadero High School: Full Guide

Location: Atascadero, CA

Are you a student or parent at Atascadero High School? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?

We've written the best guide to Atascadero High available. Here we'll cover:

Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
How safe Atascadero High is to attend
SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Atascadero High students
Which AP/IB classes you can take at Atascadero High
Every sports team you can join at Atascadero High

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Atascadero High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in Atascadero, CA in San Luis Obispo County.

Based on its location, Atascadero High is classified as a school in a small suburb. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

Atascadero High School
1 High Sch Hill
Atascadero, CA 93422-4189

Phone number: 8054624300

Atascadero High School homepage: http://www.atas.k12.ca.us/ausd/ahs/

Principal: Bill Neely
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Atascadero High School is 1348 students, making it a somewhat large high school, in the top half of all California high schools by size.

As a mid-sized high school, Atascadero High strikes the balance between size and comfort. There will be enough students to provide a diversity of experiences, like clubs and sports, for you to join. But it'll be small enough that you'll likely get to know most people in your class.

Growth in Student Body Size

Is Atascadero High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Atascadero High has increased over the past few years. We calculate this by comparing enrollment in grades 9 to 12.

	Male Students	Female Students	All Students
9^th grade	179	157	336
10^th grade	168	176	344
11^th grade	174	154	328
12^th grade	157	164	321

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 15 students larger than the senior class. This suggests that the school is growing in size and taking on more students.

There are a few reasons this could be happening. The city of Atascadero could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Atascadero High. Alternatively, Atascadero High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Atascadero High School?

From our statistics, Atascadero High has a 52:48 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

Atascadero High has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in San Luis Obispo County. Since the student body is roughly half and half, it should feel like there are equal numbers of boys and girls in your classes.

This usually means that Atascadero High doesn't strongly select for either males or females, unlike other schools that have a large majority of males or females.

Ethnicity Breakdown

What's the racial diversity at Atascadero High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, Atascadero High has a somewhat homogenous student body, with the majority of students identifying as one ethnicity, but not representing over 70% of the student body. Most schools in California fit this profile, so Atascadero High isn't out of the ordinary. Most students attending class with you will be of the predominant ethnicity, but there will be meaningful diversity from other races.

The majority of students at Atascadero High are white. In California, white students make up 26.3% of all California students, and are the second most common ethnicity after Hispanic students. Thus Atascadero High is one of hundreds of schools in the state that have a majority of white students.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	1.5%	21
Asian	1.9%	26
Hispanic	23.2%	313
Black	1.4%	19
White	69.7%	940
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	0.1%	2
Two or more races	2.0%	27

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Atascadero. If you'd like to see how other nearby schools look in diversity, just google "[name of school] prepscholar" to find our guide to that specific school.

Income Level of Atascadero High Families

What are the family incomes of students at Atascadero High School? To determine this, we look at the number of students who qualify for free or reduced lunches, a classification by the US federal government.

To qualify for a reduced price meal, family income needs to be below 185% of the federal poverty guidelines. For a family of 4, this means an income of around $45,000 or below.

To qualify for a free meal, family income needs to be below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. For a family of 4, this means an income of around $32,000 or below.

The lower the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals, the higher the income levels are likely to be.

At Atascadero High, 7.4% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 24.8% qualify for free lunches.

This means Atascadero High has a low poverty level. The overwhelming majority of students at Atascadero High don't qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Atascadero is thus likely to be an affluent community, with quite high family incomes.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	100	7.4%
Free lunches	335	24.8%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	913	67.7%

As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Atascadero and doesn't speak much about the school itself.

Because Atascadero High is in the top quartile of schools by family income, it's likely to be well-funded relative to other high schools in California. This means you'll likely have access to advanced coursework like AP/IB classes and better-funded extracurriculars and sports.

It's still up to you, though, to take advantage of the resources Atascadero High has to offer. If you work hard and spend your time effectively, you'll likely be well positioned to succeed in college and beyond.

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School Safety

How safe is Atascadero High School to attend? Can you expect a lot of conflict as a student here?

To study this, we look at disciplinary data for two types of incidents at Atascadero High: referrals to law enforcement (when incidents are reported to police), and arrests.

These are the most serious disciplinary actions available to school administration and are more severe than suspensions or expulsions. Suspensions are often discretionary and can be given just for being disruptive in class. In contrast, law enforcement referrals and arrests often indicate incidents that put the safety of other Atascadero High students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 49 referrals to law enforcement (38 male, 11 female), and 51 school-related arrests (38 males, 13 females). This is out of a total enrollment of 1490 students.

To put this into perspective, most California schools (59% of them) reported 0 law enforcement referrals and arrests.

This means that 6.7 Atascadero High has major safety issues. For every 100 students, there were 6.7 law-enforcement related actions. This is a very high number that puts Atascadero High in the top 10% of schools with disciplinary actions.

With this record, is Atascadero High School significantly different from other schools in the area? It could be that Atascadero High has an especially bad record, or it could be that the local area shows a pattern.

Compare this school with other high schools in the same school district, using the following table:

Atascadero Unified School District Safety

School Name	Total Referred	Total Arrests	Enrollment
Del Rio Continuation High	12	12	138
West Mall Alternative	0	0	50

Academic Performance

Now we get to a major aspect of assessing a high school: academic performance. How good of an education will you get at Atascadero High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Atascadero High's academics here.

Graduation Rate

To start off, an important benchmark of academic achievement is graduation rate. For all students who start high school at Atascadero High, the state of California wants as many students to graduate as possible, since a high school diploma can mean a big difference in getting a job.

At Atascadero High, 97% (of 298) Atascadero High students graduated within four years of starting high school.

Here's how this stacks up to other schools. The California state government has defined 90% as a target rate. The state average is around 80-85%.

Atascadero High is in the 96th percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is extremely good. Generally, a graduation rate of above 90% is considered good and well above average, and below 75% is well below average.

Note: This data comes from a few years back, but the trends are likely to stay the same, since schools don't get significantly better or worse within a short period of time.

Standardized Testing

Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for Atascadero High School students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.

Let’s start by taking a look at the data for nationally administered standardized tests.

SAT Scores

As you probably know, the SAT is a critical test used for college admissions. The higher the score you get, the better your academic performance compared to students nationwide, and the easier it is to get into top colleges.

We did in-depth research and found the average Atascadero High School SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1600 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 196 at Atascadero High take the SAT.

This is an above-average SAT score, putting Atascadero High School in the top 25% of all California high schools and well above the national average (71% of students score above the national average). This is a notable academic achievement that distinguishes Atascadero High as a high-achieving school.

This is a good indication that you'll receive an above-average education at Atascadero High. While your school isn't in the very top echelon of all California public schools, you're still in a great environment.

Here's a breakdown of SAT scores by section:

Average SAT Scores (2013-2014)

Source	Critical Reading	Math	Writing	Composite
Atascadero High	544	541	522	1600
California	498	510	496	1504
United States	495	511	484	1490

Note that the SAT has since changed to a 1600 scale, but the trends above for your high school are likely to continue. Just use this guide to convert between the old 2400 scale and the new 1600 scale.

To learn more about SAT percentile rankings, read our guide on what SAT percentiles really mean.

How good is 1600 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1600 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1600 or any other SAT score!

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ACT Scores

In California, the ACT is less popular than the SAT. Fewer students take the ACT, and typically these students are more motivated and academically prepared for college. Therefore, it's harder to compare Atascadero High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.

At Atascadero High, the average ACT composite score was 24, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 62 out of 1329 total students take the ACT.

This is very good performance, putting Atascadero High in the top 25% of high schools in California by ACT score. Nationwide, a 24 on the ACT is 74th percentile, so most ACT test takers at Atascadero High are well above average.

Since the ACT is designed to gauge what you learn in school, high ACT scores are are a good indication that you'll get a great education and be surrounded by other students who value academic achievements.

Here are the average English, Math, Reading, and Science scores for Atascadero High compared to California and the US:

Average ACT Scores

Source	English	Math	Reading	Science
Atascadero High	24	25	25	24
California	21.8	22.8	22.3	21.7
United States	20.3	20.9	21.3	20.8

Scores provided are for the 2013-14 school year.

Find out more about percentile rankings and the ACT in this article.

Every individual is different. What counts as a good ACT score for you? Learn more with this article!

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Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give Atascadero High School students credit for college.

Here's what we're looking for: high average AP test scores as well as high AP passing rates.

AP Scores

Every year, roughly 188 students in grades 9-12 at Atascadero High take 303 AP exams. It's important to understand how students score on the AP - earning a 3, 4, or 5 on the AP test means passing the test and often earning college credit.

The average score of all AP exams taken at Atascadero High is 2.8 out of 5.

This score puts Atascadero High at average performance. For AP tests, the passing score is considered a 3, and the number of students who pass and don't pass are roughly even. This performance places Atascadero High School in the top 50% of schools for AP tests.

It's great that Atascadero High offers an AP program so you have the opportunity to take courses at a college level. Even though roughly half of all AP students here don't get a passing grade, half do - so with motivated studying throughout the year, you'll be able to beat the average.

We have specific data on how many students got a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (out of 5) on AP exams in the chart below:

AP Test-Taking Statistics

Another way to gauge the quality of a school's AP program is to see how many AP students actually took AP exams at Atascadero High School. If a lot of students enroll in AP courses but don't actually take the AP tests, it can be a sign that students don't feel adequately prepared to take the test, or the school isn't encouraging students to take the exams enough.

At Atascadero High, there is a total enrollment of 376 in AP courses (a student taking more than one AP course counts more than once).

Of AP-taking students, 200 took AP tests for ALL AP courses. 42 students took AP tests for SOME AP Courses, and 147 took AP courses but took NO tests.

This is good test participation. Most AP students at Atascadero High School take the AP test for every one of their AP courses, outnumbering the students who take some or no AP exams. This is a good sign that students feel confident enough to take tests for all AP courses available to them, which reflects well on the teachers and course material. Atascadero High can continue to improve by reducing the number of students who take AP exams for some or none of their courses, but it's in a good state.

Note: The most recent data we have available is from 2012, so the statistics may have changed since then. Most likely, however, the trends are likely to continue - above average schools are likely to stay above average, and below average schools are likely to stay below average.

AP Passing Rates

For AP students at Atascadero High School who take the exam, it's important to know how they do. Here we have specific data on how many students got a passing grade (a 3 or above) on all, some, or none of the AP exams that they took.

Of all AP test takers, 77 students passed every AP test they took, which is a fantastic job. 23 students passed some but not all AP exams, and 126 students didn't pass ANY AP exam they took.

Unfortunately, this is poor performance compared to other high schools. At Atascadero High School, the majority of AP students fail ALL of the AP exams they take. This usually means that they're not adequately prepared for the national AP exam at the end of the year.

This isn't necessarily the school's fault. AP courses may be too advanced for the typical student at Atascadero High, and it's still a good thing that AP courses are offered at all. Furthermore, it's possible that a majority of the AP exams taken by students at Atascadero High are on the more difficult side.

However, if you're a student at Atascadero High, this is a warning that you'll have to go above and beyond the typical student to pass your AP exams. This may entail self-studying, figuring out who the better AP teachers are and trying to get into their classes, and working hard.

To find out the passing rates for specific AP courses at Atascadero High School, you'll have to talk to your guidance counselor (who can then help you find that information). For instance, one AP Calculus teacher may have an above-90% passing rate, while another might only have a 50% passing rate. If you can, you'll want to take the class with the teacher who has more students get a 3 or above on the AP exam.

Find out more about the average score for each AP subject here.

State Tests

As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Atascadero High School must take standardized tests in English/Language Arts and Math as part of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). These align with the new Common Core standards and are called the "Smarter Balanced" tests.

If Atascadero High students meet or exceed state standards, they're academically prepared to graduate high school and go to college. Specifically, we care about the percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards. The larger this number, the higher the preparation of students at Atascadero High.

English/Language Arts

At Atascadero High School, 71% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered good and puts Atascadero High in the top 25% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Most Atascadero High students pass or exceed state standards, though there is also a sizable portion of students who fail to meet state standards.

English/Language Arts Test Results (2015)

Read more about what’s measured in each ELA area score here.

Math

The other major test taken for state assessments is Math. Across the state, Math performance is generally lower than English/Language Arts performance, so it's natural for this number to be lower.

At Atascadero High School, 37% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Atascadero High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Atascadero High students don't meet state standards, and only a small percentage pass.

Math Test Results (2015)

Read more about what’s measured in each Math area score, go here.

Academic Offerings

In addition to the standard high school curriculum, many high schools like Atascadero High School offer advanced coursework as part of the Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.

Brief Intro to AP/IB

AP and IB courses are designed at the difficulty level of college introductory classes. There are several important benefits to taking advanced coursework at Atascadero High. First, taking more advanced classes shows colleges that you're committed to challenging yourself academically, and that you're one of the more advanced students at Atascadero High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Atascadero High AP/IB coursework as college coursework. In some cases, you'll be able to skip introductory-level classes and move to more advanced classes. In other cases, you'll be able to avoid having to take required courses and might even be able to graduate earlier than the standard 4 years. Often this will require you to pass the AP test, getting a score of 3 or above.

So what advanced courses does Atascadero High School offer?

AP Courses

Atascadero High School offers AP courses in 11 subjects.

This is a reasonable number of AP subjects, putting Atascadero High School in the top 50% of California schools that offer AP courses. You'll likely have access to some of the most popular math and humanities AP subjects, as well as a few others.

The total number of AP subjects is 38, so Atascadero High is missing a large number of subjects, including some popular ones. If there are any AP courses you want to take that aren't being offered at Atascadero High, ask your counselor for ideas on how to cover the gap.

Of course, keep in mind that quality matters even more than quantity - even if Atascadero High doesn't offer every AP course under the sun, the classes might still be taught very well. You can see student performance in the AP score analysis section above.

The following AP courses were offered at Atascadero High during 2015-2016:

Course Title
Biology
Calculus AB
Chemistry
English Language and Composition
English Literature and Composition
Environmental Science
Psychology
Statistics
Studio Art: 2-D Design
United States Government and Politics
United States History

Sports Teams

Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at Atascadero High School. Sports are an integral part of many students' high school experiences. The more sports that are available, and the more levels supported (Frosh, JV, Varsity), the more likely you'll be able to participate in a sport at Atascadero High.

By the way, the Atascadero High mascot is the Greyhounds. Go Greyhounds!

Atascadero High School fields 15 teams for girls' sports. This is a sizable number that puts Atascadero High in the top 50% of California schools that offer girls' sports. You won't get the full range of sports and levels, but you'll be able to try out for a few options. If you participate in a sport that Atascadero High doesn't offer, consider looking for a local non-school team that you can join.

And now for the boys: Atascadero High School fields 20 teams for boys' sports. This puts Atascadero High in the top 50% of California schools that offer boys' sports. You won't get every sport and level possible here, but you'll have a decent number of options. If you participate in a sport that Atascadero High doesn't offer, consider looking for a local non-school team that you can join.

Boys Teams	Girls Teams
Basketball Var JV Fr	Basketball Var JV Fr
Golf Var JV Fr	Golf Var JV Fr
Tennis Var JV Fr	Tennis Var JV Fr
Football Var JV Fr
Wrestling Var JV Fr
Volleyball Var JV Fr	Volleyball Var JV Fr
Baseball Var JV Fr
	Softball Var JV Fr
Waterpolo Var JV Fr	Waterpolo Var JV Fr
Trackfield Var JV Fr	Trackfield Var JV Fr
Crosscountry Var JV Fr	Crosscountry Var JV Fr
Soccer Var JV Fr	Soccer Var JV Fr
	Fieldhockey Var JV Fr

What’s Next?

Want to get more useful information about high school classes and preparing for colleges? Our blog has a ton of articles and advice on topics ranging from coursework and GPA to letters of recommendation, extracurriculars, and much more!

Ready to bulk up your schedule and maximize your college preparedness? Read all about the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs.

Not quite in high school yet, but eager to get started? We've also got information for younger students interested in advanced learning opportunities, both in and out of school.

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