Chawanakee Academy: Full Guide

Location: O'neals, CA

Are you a student or parent at Chawanakee Academy? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?

We've written the best guide to Chawanakee Academy available. Here we'll cover:

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Chawanakee Academy is a public school, supporting grades 0 to 12 . It's located in O'neals, CA in Madera County.

Based on its location, Chawanakee Academy is classified as a school in a distant rural area, somewhat far from an urbanized area. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

Chawanakee Academy
Po Box 210
O'neals, CA 93645

Phone number: 5598684200

Chawanakee Academy homepage: http://www.chawanakee.k12.ca.us/

Principal: Gary Talley
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Chawanakee Academy is 107 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, Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy lacking for your interests, consider looking to your local community to supplement your interests.

Growth in Student Body Size

Is Chawanakee Academy growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Chawanakee Academy has decreased 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	1	2	3
10^th grade	11	3	14
11^th grade	2	7	9
12^th grade	6	10	16

As you can see in the table above, the senior class is 13 students larger than the freshman class. This suggests that Chawanakee Academy is shrinking in size and taking on fewer students.

There are a few reasons this can happen. The population of O'neals could be decreasing, thus sending fewer students into Chawanakee Academy. Alternatively, other schools (like charter or private schools) might be appearing, drawing students away.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Chawanakee Academy?

From our statistics, Chawanakee Academy has a 48:52 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

Chawanakee Academy has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Madera 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 Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy are white. In California, white students make up 26.3% of all California students, and are the second most common ethnicity after Hispanic students. Thus Chawanakee Academy is one of hundreds of schools in the state that have a majority of white students.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	5.6%	6
Asian	2.8%	3
Hispanic	19.6%	21
Black	1.8%	2
White	57.0%	61
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	0.0%	0
Two or more races	13.0%	14

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of O'neals. 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 Chawanakee Academy Families

What are the family incomes of students at Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy, 4.6% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 38.3% qualify for free lunches.

This means Chawanakee Academy has a below average level of poverty. With most students not qualifying for free or reduced price lunches, Chawanakee Academy is below average among California schools in poverty level. The income level of families in O'neals is thus likely to be relatively high.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	5	4.6%
Free lunches	41	38.3%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	61	57.0%

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

Chawanakee 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. Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy 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 Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy 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 142 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:

Chawanakee Unified School District Safety

School Name	Total Referred	Total Arrests	Enrollment
Manzanita Community Day	0	0	2
Mountain Oaks High	0	0	12
Minarets High	0	0	280
Minarets Charter High	0	0	135

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 Chawanakee Academy? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Chawanakee Academy's academics here.

Standardized Testing

Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for Chawanakee Academy 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.

Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give Chawanakee Academy 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 Chawanakee Academy 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 Chawanakee Academy is out of 5.

Compared to schools across California, this score puts Chawanakee Academy 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 Chawanakee Academy in the bottom 25 % of schools for AP tests.

This isn't all bad news for you, though. It's still good that Chawanakee Academy 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 Chawanakee Academy, 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 Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee 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 Chawanakee Academy.

English/Language Arts

At Chawanakee Academy, 36% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered below average and puts Chawanakee Academy in the bottom 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The majority of Chawanakee Academy 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 Chawanakee Academy will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Chawanakee Academy'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 Chawanakee Academy, 14% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Chawanakee Academy in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Chawanakee 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.

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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