Location: Simi Valley, CA
Are you a student or parent at California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to CAVA @ LA available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe CAVA @ LA is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by CAVA @ LA students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at CAVA @ LA
- Every sports team you can join at CAVA @ LA
Let's get started!
Basic Information
California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles is a public school, supporting grades 0 to 12 . It's located in Simi Valley, CA in Ventura County.
Based on its location, CAVA @ LA is classified as a school in a midsize suburb. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles2360 Shasta Way, Unit A Simi Valley, CA 93065
Phone number: 8055810202
California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles homepage: http://cava.k12.com/
Principal: Katrina AbstonEmail the principal: [email protected]
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles is 3913 students, making it a very large high school, in the top 10% of all California high schools by size.
Wow! Attending CAVA @ LA might feel like attending a college. You'll be surrounded by a large group of students (over 500 per class) and have more options for activities and clubs to join, which can be exciting.
On the other hand, you may also find that resources like counseling are spread thin across so many students. Make sure that you can get enough teacher and counselor attention to succeed at CAVA @ LA, which may require being proactive.
Growth in Student Body Size
Is California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at CAVA @ LA has increased over the past few years. We calculate this by comparing enrollment in grades 9 to 12.
| Male Students | Female Students | All Students | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9th grade | 183 | 199 | 382 |
| 10th grade | 167 | 218 | 385 |
| 11th grade | 170 | 206 | 376 |
| 12th grade | 107 | 167 | 274 |
As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 108 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 Simi Valley could be growing in population, thus sending more students into CAVA @ LA. Alternatively, CAVA @ LA could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles?
From our statistics, CAVA @ LA has a 45:55 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
CAVA @ LA has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Ventura 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 CAVA @ LA 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, CAVA @ LA has a diverse student body. No single ethnicity composes more than 50% of all students, which means you'll be surrounded by a diverse set of students in class. Only a third of California schools show this much diversity.
The most common ethnicity at CAVA @ LA is white. In California, white students make up 26.3% of all California students, and are the second most common ethnicity after Hispanic students.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.7% | 28 |
| Asian | 7.1% | 279 |
| Hispanic | 26.6% | 1042 |
| Black | 19.2% | 755 |
| White | 43.7% | 1710 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 0.8% | 35 |
| Two or more races | 1.6% | 64 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Simi Valley. 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 CAVA @ LA Families
What are the family incomes of students at California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles? 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 CAVA @ LA, 13.9% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 38.4% qualify for free lunches.
This means CAVA @ LA has a below average level of poverty. With most students not qualifying for free or reduced price lunches, CAVA @ LA is below average among California schools in poverty level. The income level of families in Simi Valley is thus likely to be relatively high.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 545 | 13.9% |
| Free lunches | 1505 | 38.4% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 1863 | 47.6% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Simi Valley and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
CAVA @ LA 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. CAVA @ LA 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 CAVA @ LA doesn't cover, look to your local community for activities, or to the Internet for self-study AP classes.
Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
School Safety
How safe is California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles 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 CAVA @ LA: 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 CAVA @ LA 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 4906 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:
West Covina Unified School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coronado High (continuation) | 11 | 7 | 226 |
| West Covina High | 138 | 16 | 2702 |
| Edgewood High | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles High | 0 | 0 | 16 |
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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about CAVA @ LA'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 CAVA @ LA, 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 CAVA @ LA, 27% (of 284) CAVA @ LA 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%.
CAVA @ LA is in the 27th 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles SAT scores.
The average composite SAT score is a 1590 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 57 at CAVA @ LA take the SAT.
This is an above-average SAT score, putting California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles in the top 25% of all California high schools and well above the national average (63% of students score above the national average). This is a notable academic achievement that distinguishes CAVA @ LA as a high-achieving school.
This is a good indication that you'll receive an above-average education at CAVA @ LA. While your school isn't in the very top echelon of all California public schools, you're still in a great environment.
Keep in mind, however, that only 4% of all students at CAVA @ LA 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAVA @ LA | 561 | 503 | 534 | 1590 |
| 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 1590 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1590 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1590 or any other SAT score!
Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles ACT scores with the rest of the country.
At CAVA @ LA, the average ACT composite score was 23, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 17 out of 1417 total students take the ACT.
This is above average performance, putting CAVA @ LA in the top 50% of California high schools. Since the ACT tests what you learn in school, these ACT scores are a good indication that you'll get an above-average education at CAVA @ LA.
Here are the average English, Math, Reading, and Science scores for CAVA @ LA compared to California and the US:
Average ACT Scores
| Source | English | Math | Reading | Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAVA @ LA | 24 | 22 | 24 | 23 |
| 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!
Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and ACT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
Advanced Placement (AP)
Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles 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 1 students in grades 9-12 at CAVA @ LA take 0 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 CAVA @ LA is out of 5.
Compared to schools across California, this score puts CAVA @ LA 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles in the bottom 25 % of schools for AP tests.
This isn't all bad news for you, though. It's still good that CAVA @ LA 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles, 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles 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 CAVA @ LA 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 CAVA @ LA.
English/Language Arts
At California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles, 70% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.
This is considered good and puts CAVA @ LA in the top 25% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Most CAVA @ LA 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles, 22% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts CAVA @ LA in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of CAVA @ LA 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles 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 CAVA @ LA. 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 CAVA @ LA. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.
Furthermore, many colleges will accept your CAVA @ LA 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 California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles offer?
AP Courses
California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles offers AP courses in 14 subjects.
This is a reasonable number of AP subjects, putting California Virtual Academy @ Los Angeles 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 CAVA @ LA 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 CAVA @ LA, 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 CAVA @ LA 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 CAVA @ LA during 2015-2016:
| Course Title |
|---|
| Biology |
| Calculus AB |
| Chemistry |
| English Language and Composition |
| English Literature and Composition |
| Environmental Science |
| French Language and Culture |
| Macroeconomics |
| Psychology |
| Spanish Language and Culture |
| Statistics |
| United States Government and Politics |
| United States History |
| World History |
Sports Teams
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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Sources
The data on this page is drawn from a variety of sources, including (but not limited to):
- National Center for Educational Statistics CCD 2013-2014
- "Free or reduced price lunch: A proxy for poverty?", NCES Blog
- CRDC 2011-2012 school year data
- California Department of Education SAT, ACT, and AP Test Results
- California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System Results
- AP Course Ledger
- IBO.org