Tracy High School: Full Guide

Location: Tracy, CA

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

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

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

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

Contact Information

Mailing address:

Tracy High School
315 E. 11th St.
Tracy, CA 95376-4017

Phone number: 2098303360

Tracy High School homepage: https://www.tracy.k12.ca.us/sites/ths/

Principal: Jason Noll
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Tracy High School is 2047 students, making it a large high school, in the top 25% of all California high schools by size.

Attending Tracy High will feel like attending a small college. You'll have a few hundred students in your class, enough to provide an interesting set of activities, sports, and classes to try. But compared to the largest high schools in California, the student body size won't be overwhelming.

Growth in Student Body Size

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

From our calculations, the enrollment at Tracy 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	261	293	554
10^th grade	279	296	575
11^th grade	224	222	446
12^th grade	243	229	472

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 82 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 Tracy could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Tracy High. Alternatively, Tracy High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Tracy High School?

From our statistics, Tracy High has a 50:50 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

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

From our statistics, Tracy High 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 Tracy High is Hispanic. In California, 51.5% of all students are Hispanic, making it the most common ethnicity. Even though Tracy High is relatively diverse, students of Hispanic descent are the most common ethnicity here.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.4%	10
Asian	11.8%	243
Hispanic	39.8%	816
Black	6.3%	129
White	37.9%	777
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	0.4%	9
Two or more races	3.0%	63

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

What are the family incomes of students at Tracy 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 Tracy High, 6.8% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 24.5% qualify for free lunches.

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

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	141	6.8%
Free lunches	503	24.5%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	1403	68.5%

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

Because Tracy High 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 Tracy High 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 Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy High students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 32 referrals to law enforcement (26 male, 6 female), and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 1957 students.

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

This means that 1.6 Tracy High has minor safety issues. For every 100 students, there were just 1.6 law-enforcement related actions, but this is still higher than 75% of California schools.

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

Tracy Joint Unified School District Safety

School Name	Total Referred	Enrollment
Excel High	0	0
Merrill F. West High	21	2230
Duncan-russell Continuation	2	39
Willow Community Day	0	38
Millennium Charter	0	0
George And Evelyn Stein Continuation	4	139

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

We've compiled everything we could find about Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy High, 88% (of 615) Tracy 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%.

Tracy High is in the 64th 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 Tracy 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 Tracy High School SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1530 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 266 at Tracy High take the SAT.

This is an average SAT score, putting Tracy High School right around the national average. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that Tracy High will offer a fairly standard high school education, neither strongly lacking or outperforming.

Note, however, that this is just an average - the top students can still exceed the average significantly. If you can rise far above your school average, you'll have a great shot at entering a strong college.

Here's a breakdown of SAT scores by section:

Average SAT Scores (2013-2014)

Source	Critical Reading	Math	Writing	Composite
Tracy High	507	523	502	1530
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 1530 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1530 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1530 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 Tracy High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.

At Tracy High, the average ACT composite score was 22, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 89 out of 2047 total students take the ACT.

This is above average performance, putting Tracy High 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 Tracy High.

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

Average ACT Scores

Source	English	Math	Reading	Science
Tracy High	22	23	23	22
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 Tracy 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 72 students in grades 9-12 at Tracy High take 87 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 Tracy High is 3.1 out of 5.

This is a solid achievement showing above average performance. The majority of students get a passing grade of 3 or above, placing them above the national average. This performance places Tracy High School in the top 25% of schools for AP tests.

Tracy High therefore has a robust AP program with classes that will help you pass the AP exam. Furthermore, a sizable number of students still earn a 4 or a 5 on their AP tests, so if you're motivated to do well, you can still get a great AP score.

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 Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy High.

English/Language Arts

At Tracy High School, 66% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered good and puts Tracy High in the top 25% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Most Tracy High 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 Tracy High School, 35% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Tracy High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

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

AP Courses

Tracy High School offers AP courses in 4 subjects.

This is a relatively low number of AP subjects, putting Tracy 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 Tracy High is missing most. If you want to take any AP courses not being offered at Tracy 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 Tracy 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 Tracy High during 2015-2016:

Course Title
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Computer Science A
Statistics

IB Courses

The International Baccalaureate program is less popular in the United States than the Advanced Placement program (there are around 850 diploma schools in the country and 100 in California). But Tracy High School is one of the lucky few to have an IB program!

For college application purposes, the IB and AP programs are basically equivalent. So don't worry about being advantaged or disadvantaged either way if you participate in IB vs AP. What colleges care about first is academic achievement, and AP and IB classes are seen as equally challenging.

Tracy High School has been an IB school since 2/1/84. Questions about the IB program at Tracy High? You can contact the IB Diploma Programme coordinator, Ms Terri Sorgent, by phone at (1) 209 830 3360.

The following IB courses were offered at Tracy High during 2015-2016:

Course Title	HL/SL
Spanish B	HL + SL
Biology	HL + SL
Physics	HL + SL
Mathematical studies	SL
Psychology	HL + SL
Philosophy	HL + SL
Chemistry	HL + SL
Environmental systems and societies	SL
Theory of Knowledge
French B	HL + SL
English A Literature	HL + SL
History	HL + SL

You can find out more about the IB testing schedule by going here.

We've also written the best study and test guides to International Baccalaureate.

Sports Teams

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

By the way, the Tracy High mascot is the Bulldogs. Go Bulldogs!

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

And now for the boys: Tracy High School fields 21 teams for boys' sports. This puts Tracy High in the top 25% of California schools that offer boys' sports. Boys will have a large pick of sports to try out for.

Boys Teams	Girls Teams
Lacrosse Var JV Fr	Lacrosse Var JV Fr
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
Volleyball Var JV Fr	Volleyball Var JV Fr
Baseball Var JV Fr
	Softball Var JV Fr
Waterpolo Var JV Fr	Waterpolo Var JV Fr
Trackfield Var JV Fr	Trackfield Var JV Fr
Crosscountry Var JV Fr
Soccer Var JV Fr	Soccer Var JV Fr
Swimming 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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