Banning Independent Study School: Full Guide

Location: Banning, CA

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

We've written the best guide to Banning Independent Study School available. Here we'll cover:

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Banning Independent Study School is a public school, supporting grades 0 to 12 . It's located in Banning, CA in Riverside County.

Based on its location, Banning Independent Study School is classified as a school in a large suburb. Here's the location on a map:


Contact Information

Mailing address:

Banning Independent Study School
1151 W. Wilson St.
Banning, CA 92220-5529

Phone number: 9519220268

Banning Independent Study School homepage: http://bis.banning.k12.ca.us/

Principal: David Sanchez
Email the principal: [email protected]


Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Banning Independent Study School is 95 students, making it a somewhat small high school, in the bottom half of all California high schools by size.

As a smaller-sized high school, Banning Independent Study School will feel like a cozy learning environment. With fewer than 100 students in your class, you'll likely get to know most other students and your teachers well. This will give you the feeling of a small liberal arts college.

But with a smaller student body, you won't have as many activities and clubs to choose from. If you find Banning Independent Study School lacking for your interests, consider looking to your local community to supplement your interests.


Growth in Student Body Size

Is Banning Independent Study School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Banning Independent Study School has steadily decreased over the past few years. We calculate this by comparing enrollment in grades 9 to 12.

Male Students Female Students All Students
9th grade 2 8 10
10th grade 4 12 16
11th grade 11 12 23
12th grade 13 16 29

As you can see in the table above, the senior class is 19 students larger than the freshman class. This suggests that Banning Independent Study School is shrinking in size and taking on fewer students.

There are a few reasons this can happen. The population of Banning could be decreasing, thus sending fewer students into Banning Independent Study School. Alternatively, other schools (like charter or private schools) might be appearing, drawing students away.


Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Banning Independent Study School?

From our statistics, Banning Independent Study School has a 39:61 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

There is a large female majority at Banning Independent Study School, and the imbalance is greater than you would expect from the general population in Riverside County. As a result, it'll feel like there are a lot more girls than boys in your classes.

Sometimes this imbalance can result from random chance and may not suggest anything about Banning Independent Study School. In other cases, the school might preferentially select for females (if it has its own admissions criteria), or parents with female kids might prefer to send them to Banning Independent Study School. In yet other cases, other neighboring schools might attract male students, drawing them away from Banning Independent Study School.

If this gender imbalance is a concern for you, we suggest contacting Banning Independent Study School administration and asking if they have any thoughts about why there's a female majority. Their phone number is 9519220268.


Ethnicity Breakdown

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

From our statistics, Banning Independent Study School 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 Banning Independent Study School 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 Banning Independent Study School are Hispanic. In California, Hispanic students make up the majority of all students at 51.5%, and are thus the most common ethnicity. Predominantly Hispanic schools are the most common type of homogenous school, and Banning Independent Study School fits within this category.

Percentage Number
American Indian/Alaska Native 8.4% 8
Asian 0.0% 0
Hispanic 53.6% 51
Black 4.2% 4
White 31.5% 30
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 1.0% 1
Two or more races 1.0% 1

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Banning. 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 Banning Independent Study School Families

What are the family incomes of students at Banning Independent Study 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 Banning Independent Study School, 7.3% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 28.4% qualify for free lunches.

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

Number Percent
Reduced-price lunches 7 7.3%
Free lunches 27 28.4%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches 61 64.2%

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

Because Banning Independent Study School 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 Banning Independent Study School 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 Banning Independent Study 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 Banning Independent Study School: 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 Banning Independent Study School students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 0 referrals to law enforcement, and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 84 students.

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

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

Banning Unified School District Safety

School Name Total Referred Total Arrests Enrollment
Banning High 0 0 1120
New Horizon High 0 0 86

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 Banning Independent Study School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Banning Independent Study School'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 Banning Independent Study School, 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 Banning Independent Study School, 83% Banning Independent Study School 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%.

Banning Independent Study School is in the 49th percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is below average. 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 Banning Independent Study School students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.

State Tests

As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Banning Independent Study 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 Banning Independent Study School 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 Banning Independent Study School.

English/Language Arts

At Banning Independent Study School, 30% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered below average and puts Banning Independent Study School in the bottom 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The majority of Banning Independent Study School students do not pass state standards, and only a small percentage pass.

This specific percentage isn't much cause for concern - because the Common Core is new, the pass rate at Banning Independent Study School will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Banning Independent Study School's below average standing among California high schools.

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 Banning Independent Study School, 3% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Banning Independent Study School in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Banning Independent Study School 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.


Sports Teams


What’s Next?


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Sources

The data on this page is drawn from a variety of sources, including (but not limited to):