Barstow High School: Full Guide

Location: Barstow, CA

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

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

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

Based on its location, Barstow High is classified as a school in a distant town, or more than 10 miles from an urbanized area. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

Barstow High School
551 S. Ave. H
Barstow, CA 92311-2500

Phone number: 7602556105

Barstow High School homepage: http://barstow.k12.ca.us/bhs/

Principal: Derrick Delton
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Barstow High School is 1336 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, Barstow 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 Barstow High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Barstow High has steadily 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	201	197	398
10^th grade	171	172	343
11^th grade	163	143	306
12^th grade	168	121	289

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 109 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 Barstow could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Barstow High. Alternatively, Barstow High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Barstow High School?

From our statistics, Barstow High has a 53:47 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

Barstow High has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in San Bernardino 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High 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 Barstow High fits within this category.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	2.0%	27
Asian	2.7%	37
Hispanic	53.5%	715
Black	12.8%	172
White	25.1%	336
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	2.1%	29
Two or more races	1.4%	20

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Barstow. 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 Barstow High Families

What are the family incomes of students at Barstow 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 Barstow High, 8.1% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 55.9% qualify for free lunches.

This means Barstow High has a moderate percentage of students at or near poverty. About half of all schools in California show this level of poverty or greater. The income level of families in Barstow is likely to be relatively low.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	109	8.1%
Free lunches	747	55.9%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	480	35.9%

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

Barstow High is in the middle 50% of schools by income level. Generally, higher income level schools are better-funded and have a higher quality range of classes and activities. Barstow High is likely in the middle of the pack in this regard and will give you a good set of options to try.

If you have any interests that Barstow High doesn't cover, look to your local community for activities, or to the Internet for self-study AP classes.

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School Safety

How safe is Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 50 referrals to law enforcement (41 male, 9 female), and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 1396 students.

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

This means that 3.5 Barstow High has minor safety issues. For every 100 students, there were just 3.5 law-enforcement related actions, but this is still higher than 75% of California schools.

With this record, is Barstow High School significantly different from other schools in the area? It could be that Barstow 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:

Barstow Unified School District Safety

School Name	Total Referred	Total Arrests	Enrollment
Central High (continuation)	0	0	298
Busd School Of Opportunity	0	0	20

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 Barstow High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High, 86% (of 296) Barstow 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%.

Barstow High is in the 59th percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is above 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High School SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1360 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 108 at Barstow High take the SAT.

This is a below-average SAT score, putting Barstow High School in the bottom 50% of all California schools. Only 27% of students here score the national average or higher. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that Barstow High may offer a somewhat lacking high school education, compared to schools with higher SAT averages.

Note, however, that an average is just an average - top performers will still be able to impress. If you work hard and get an SAT score well above Barstow High's average, you'll have a great shot at entering a good college.

Keep in mind, however, that only 8% of all students at Barstow High took the SAT, so the results could be skewed by the small sample size.

Here's a breakdown of SAT scores by section:

Average SAT Scores (2013-2014)

Source	Critical Reading	Math	Writing	Composite
Barstow High	448	469	451	1360
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 1360 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1360 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1360 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 Barstow High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.

At Barstow High, the average ACT composite score was 20, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 30 out of 1336 total students take the ACT.

This is below average performance, putting Barstow High in the bottom 50% of California high schools. Most students who take the ACT are below the national average.

Since the ACT tests what you learn in school, this is a pretty strong indicator that you'll get an average or below average education at Barstow High.

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

Average ACT Scores

Source	English	Math	Reading	Science
Barstow High	19	20	21	20
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 Barstow 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 53 students in grades 9-12 at Barstow High take 122 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 Barstow High is 1.8 out of 5.

Compared to schools across California, this score puts Barstow High at below average performance. On AP tests, the passing score is considered a 3, and unfortunately the number of students who don't pass is greater than the number of do. This performance places Barstow High School in the bottom 25 % of schools for AP tests.

This isn't all bad news for you, though. It's still good that Barstow High offers AP classes so you have the opportunity to take courses at a college level. Your school might be new to offering AP courses, and typically teachers get better at preparing students for AP tests over time. Finally, as you'll see below, there are still students who earn a passing grade of 3 or above - and with hard work, you can be one of them.

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:

To find out the passing rates for specific AP courses at Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High.

English/Language Arts

At Barstow High School, 40% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered below average and puts Barstow High in the bottom 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The majority of Barstow High 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 Barstow High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Barstow High'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 Barstow High School, 14% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Barstow High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow 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 Barstow High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Barstow 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 Barstow High School offer?

AP Courses

Barstow High School offers AP courses in 7 subjects.

This is a relatively low number of AP subjects, putting Barstow High School in the bottom 50% of California schools offering AP courses. You'll likely be able to take the most popular courses like Calculus, English, and US History, but you won't have most other subjects available.

The total number of AP subjects is 38, so Barstow High is missing most. If you want to take any AP courses not being offered at Barstow High, ask your counselor for ideas on how to cover the gap. If you're a strong student, you might consider transferring schools to access a more advanced curriculum.

Of course, keep in mind that even though Barstow High doesn't offer many AP courses, it might teach the ones it does offer quite well. You can see student performance in the AP score analysis section above.

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

Course Title
Biology
Calculus AB
English Language and Composition
English Literature and Composition
Psychology
Statistics
United States History

Sports Teams

Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at Barstow 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 Barstow High.

By the way, the Barstow High mascot is the Aztecs. Go Aztecs!

Barstow High School fields 14 teams for girls' sports. This is a sizable number that puts Barstow 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 Barstow High doesn't offer, consider looking for a local non-school team that you can join.

And now for the boys: Barstow High School fields 16 teams for boys' sports. This puts Barstow 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 Barstow 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
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
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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