Pete J. Knight High School: Full Guide

Location: Palmdale, CA

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

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Pete J. Knight High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in Palmdale, CA in Los Angeles County.

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

Contact Information

Mailing address:

Pete J. Knight High School
37423 70th St. E.
Palmdale, CA 93552-4800

Phone number: 6615339000

Pete J. Knight High School homepage: http://www.khshawks.org/

Principal: Richie Romero
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Pete J. Knight High School is 3159 students, making it a very large high school, in the top 10% of all California high schools by size.

Wow! Attending Knight High 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 Knight High, which may require being proactive.

Growth in Student Body Size

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

From our calculations, the enrollment at Knight 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	441	395	836
10^th grade	373	387	760
11^th grade	366	364	730
12^th grade	400	433	833

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 3 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 Palmdale could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Knight High. Alternatively, Knight High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Pete J. Knight High School?

From our statistics, Knight High has a 51:49 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

Knight High has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Los Angeles 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 Knight 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 Pete J. Knight High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, Knight High has a homogenous student body, with the overwhelming majority of students identifying as one ethnicity. Only a third of California schools show as little diversity as Knight High does. When attending class, most students will be of the same ethnicity, with some variation.

The majority of students at Knight 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 Knight High fits within this category.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.3%	12
Asian	2.0%	65
Hispanic	73.2%	2313
Black	16.0%	507
White	6.4%	205
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	0.1%	6
Two or more races	1.6%	51

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

What are the family incomes of students at Pete J. Knight 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 Knight High, 14.3% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 55.5% qualify for free lunches.

This means Knight 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 Palmdale is likely to be relatively low.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	452	14.3%
Free lunches	1755	55.5%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	952	30.1%

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

Knight 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. Knight 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 Knight 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 Pete J. Knight 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 Knight 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 Knight High 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 3418 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:

Antelope Valley Union High School District Safety

School Name	Total Referred	Total Arrests	Enrollment
Antelope Valley High	0	0	1764
Desert Winds Continuation High	0	0	433
Palmdale High	0	0	3067
Quartz Hill High	0	0	3151
Lancaster High	0	0	2452
Phoenix High Community Day	0	0	140

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 Pete J. Knight High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Knight 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 Knight 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 Knight High, 87% (of 673) Knight 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%.

Knight High is in the 61st 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 Pete J. Knight 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 Pete J. Knight High School SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1340 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 395 at Knight High take the SAT.

This is a below-average SAT score, putting Pete J. Knight High School in the bottom 50% of all California schools. Only 26% of students here score the national average or higher. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that Knight 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 Knight High's average, you'll have a great shot at entering a good college.

Here's a breakdown of SAT scores by section:

Average SAT Scores (2013-2014)

Source	Critical Reading	Math	Writing	Composite
Knight High	449	452	447	1340
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 1340 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1340 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1340 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 Pete J. Knight High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.

At Knight High, the average ACT composite score was 19, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 100 out of 3159 total students take the ACT.

This is below average performance, putting Knight 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 Knight High.

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

Average ACT Scores

Source	English	Math	Reading	Science
Knight High	19	20	20	19
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 Pete J. Knight 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 546 students in grades 9-12 at Knight High take 1130 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 Knight High is 2.4 out of 5.

Unfortunately, this score puts Knight High at below average performance. For AP tests, the passing score is considered a 3, and the majority of students who take AP tests at Knight High don't pass. This performance places Pete J. Knight High School in the bottom 50% of schools for AP tests in California.

This isn't all bad news. It's already good that Knight High offers an AP program, so you can start dipping your toes into college-level courses. Some schools are new to offering AP courses, and teachers often get better at preparing students for AP tests. Furthermore, a good number of students still earn a passing grade of 3 or above. With hard work throughout the year, you'll still be able to beat your school's 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 Pete J. Knight 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 Knight High, there is a total enrollment of 669 in AP courses (a student taking more than one AP course counts more than once).

Of AP-taking students, 440 took AP tests for ALL AP courses. 30 students took AP tests for SOME AP Courses, and 150 took AP courses but took NO tests.

This is good test participation. Most AP students at Pete J. Knight 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. Knight 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 Pete J. Knight 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, 148 students passed every AP test they took, which is a fantastic job. 110 students passed some but not all AP exams, and 202 students didn't pass ANY AP exam they took.

This is good performance. The majority of students pass SOME or ALL of the AP tests. Only a minority of students at Pete J. Knight High School fail all the AP exams they take.

Overall, this points to a fairly strong AP program at Knight High. Most students are able to pass at least one of the AP tests they take, which means the teaching is likely of acceptable quality, and the students are motivated to do well. However, the program isn't strong across the board. Some teachers or courses may be better than others, and students at Knight High may be stronger at some subjects and weaker in others.

If you attend Knight High, this means you'll have a good starting point to work from - but if you want to pass all the AP tests you take, you'll need to work hard and use good study strategies.

To find out the passing rates for specific AP courses at Pete J. Knight 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 Pete J. Knight 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 Knight 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 Knight High.

English/Language Arts

At Pete J. Knight High School, 36% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered below average and puts Knight High in the bottom 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The majority of Knight 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 Knight High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Knight 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 Pete J. Knight High School, 13% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Knight High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Knight 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 Pete J. Knight 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 Knight 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 Knight High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Knight 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 Pete J. Knight High School offer?

AP Courses

Pete J. Knight High School offers AP courses in 19 subjects.

This is an impressive number of AP subjects, putting Pete J. Knight High School in the top 25% of California schools in AP offerings. You'll likely have all of the most popular AP courses available to you, as well as some broader interests.

The total number of AP subjects is 38, so Knight High is missing a good number of subjects, but these are likely the least popular subjects, like less popular foreign languages. If there are any AP courses you want to take that aren't being offered at Knight High, ask your counselor for other options.

Of course, keep in mind that quality matters even more than quantity - it's important that your AP courses are taught well by engaging teachers. But the strong AP program at Knight High likely means you'll be in good hands.

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

Course Title
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
Computer Science A
English Language and Composition
English Literature and Composition
Environmental Science
French Language and Culture
Physics 1: Algebra-Based
Physics 2: Algebra-Based
Psychology
Spanish Language and Culture
Spanish Literature and Culture
Statistics
Studio Art: 2-D Design
Studio Art: Drawing
United States Government and Politics
World History

Sports Teams

Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at Pete J. Knight 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 Knight High.

By the way, the William J. (pete) Knight High mascot is the Hawks. Go Hawks!

Pete J. Knight High School fields 15 teams for girls' sports. This is a sizable number that puts Knight 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 Knight High doesn't offer, consider looking for a local non-school team that you can join.

And now for the boys: Pete J. Knight High School fields 17 teams for boys' sports. This puts Knight 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 Knight 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	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
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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