Location: San Jacinto, CA
Are you a student or parent at Mountain Heights Academy? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to Mountain Heights Academy available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe Mountain Heights Academy is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Mountain Heights Academy students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at Mountain Heights Academy
- Every sports team you can join at Mountain Heights Academy
Let's get started!
Basic Information
Mountain Heights Academy is a public school, supporting grades 0 to 12 . It's located in San Jacinto, CA in Riverside County.
Based on its location, Mountain Heights Academy is classified as a school in a midsize suburb. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
Mountain Heights Academy1000 Ramona Blvd. San Jacinto, CA 92582
Phone number: 9514877710
Mountain Heights Academy homepage: http://www.sanjacinto.k12.ca.us/
Principal: Clifford WeaverEmail the principal: [email protected]
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at Mountain Heights Academy is 167 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, Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy lacking for your interests, consider looking to your local community to supplement your interests.
Growth in Student Body Size
Is Mountain Heights Academy growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at Mountain Heights Academy 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 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 10th grade | 10 | 6 | 16 |
| 11th grade | 18 | 28 | 46 |
| 12th grade | 45 | 47 | 92 |
As you can see in the table above, the senior class is 86 students larger than the freshman class. This suggests that Mountain Heights Academy is shrinking in size and taking on fewer students.
There are a few reasons this can happen. The population of San Jacinto could be decreasing, thus sending fewer students into Mountain Heights Academy. Alternatively, other schools (like charter or private schools) might be appearing, drawing students away.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at Mountain Heights Academy?
From our statistics, Mountain Heights Academy has a 49:51 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
Mountain Heights Academy has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Riverside 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy fits within this category.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 4.1% | 7 |
| Asian | 0.5% | 1 |
| Hispanic | 59.2% | 99 |
| Black | 10.7% | 18 |
| White | 20.3% | 34 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 2.3% | 4 |
| Two or more races | 2.3% | 4 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of San Jacinto. 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 Mountain Heights Academy Families
What are the family incomes of students at Mountain Heights Academy? 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 Mountain Heights Academy, 2.3% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 55.0% qualify for free lunches.
This means Mountain Heights Academy has a below average level of poverty. With most students not qualifying for free or reduced price lunches, Mountain Heights Academy is below average among California schools in poverty level. The income level of families in San Jacinto is thus likely to be relatively high.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 4 | 2.3% |
| Free lunches | 92 | 55.0% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 71 | 42.5% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in San Jacinto and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
Mountain Heights Academy 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. Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy: 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 Mountain Heights Academy students at risk.
In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 2 referrals to law enforcement (0 male, 2 female), and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 368 students.
To put this into perspective, most California schools (59% of them) reported 0 law enforcement referrals and arrests.
This means that 0.5 Mountain Heights Academy is a safe school. For every 100 students, there is much fewer than 1 law-enforcement related action. It's not a perfect record, but it happens so infrequently that it might have just been a few bad apples.
With this record, is Mountain Heights Academy significantly different from other schools in the area? It could be that Mountain Heights Academy 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:
San Jacinto Unified School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View High | 13 | 2 | 39 |
| San Jacinto High | 70 | 0 | 2263 |
| San Jacinto Valley Academy | 0 | 0 | 693 |
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 Mountain Heights Academy? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about Mountain Heights Academy's academics here.
Standardized Testing
Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for Mountain Heights Academy students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.
State Tests
As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy.
English/Language Arts
At Mountain Heights Academy, 19% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.
This is considered well below average and puts Mountain Heights Academy in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The vast majority of Mountain Heights Academy students don't meet state standards, and only a small percentage pass.
This low percentage itself isn't much cause for concern - as teachers and students get more familiar with the new Common Core, the pass rate at Mountain Heights Academy will likely increase. But it still reflects Mountain Heights Academy's low 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 Mountain Heights Academy, 0% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Mountain Heights Academy in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy. 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 Mountain Heights Academy. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.
Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Mountain Heights Academy 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 Mountain Heights Academy offer?
AP Courses
Mountain Heights Academy offers AP courses in 2 subjects.
This is a low number of AP subjects, putting Mountain Heights Academy in the bottom 25% of California schools offering AP courses. You'll be very limited in your ability to explore your interests in math, science, humanities, or social sciences at Mountain Heights Academy.
Take a look at every AP subject offered. If you want to take any AP courses not being offered at Mountain Heights Academy, ask your counselor for ideas on how to cover the gap. If you're a strong student and not feeling adequately challenged, you might consider transferring to another high school to access a more advanced curriculum.
Of course, keep in mind that even though Mountain Heights Academy doesn't offer many AP courses, it might teach the few it does offer quite well. You can see student performance in the AP score analysis section above.
The following AP courses were offered at Mountain Heights Academy during 2015-2016:
| Course Title |
|---|
| English Literature and Composition |
| United States 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.
If You Liked Our Advice...
Our experts have written hundreds of useful articles on improving your SAT score and getting into college. You'll definitely find something useful here.
Visit our blog now.Subscribe to our newsletter to get FREE strategies and guides sent to your email. Learn how to ace the SAT/ACT and get into college, with exclusive tips and insights that we share with our private newsletter subscribers.
You should definitely follow us on social media. You'll get updates on our latest articles right on your feed. Follow us on all of our social networks:
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
- IBO.org