Esperanza (Continuation) High School: Full Guide

Location: Gridley, CA

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

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Esperanza (Continuation) High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in Gridley, CA in Butte County.

Based on its location, Esperanza Continuation High is classified as a school in a distant town, or more than 10 miles from an urbanized area. Here's the location on a map:


Contact Information

Mailing address:

Esperanza (Continuation) High School
581 Jackson St.
Gridley, CA 95948-2538

Phone number: 5308464383

Esperanza (Continuation) High School homepage: http://www.gusd.org/

Principal: Cindy Kershaw
Email the principal: [email protected]


Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Esperanza (Continuation) High School is 26 students, making it a small high school, in the bottom 25% of all California high schools by size.

With at most a few dozen students in your class, you'll get to know most other Esperanza Continuation High students well. But the small student body size may mean that you won't get access to the full range of activities and classes that other high schools offer.

If you find that your interests aren't well served by Esperanza Continuation High, consider transferring to a larger high school if possible, or find ways to supplement your interests in your community or on the Internet.


Growth in Student Body Size

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

From our calculations, the enrollment at Esperanza Continuation High has 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 0 0 0
10th grade 0 0 0
11th grade 6 8 14
12th grade 7 5 12

As you can see in the table above, the senior class is 12 students larger than the freshman class. This suggests that Esperanza Continuation High is shrinking in size and taking on fewer students.

There are a few reasons this can happen. The population of Gridley could be decreasing, thus sending fewer students into Esperanza Continuation High. Alternatively, other schools (like charter or private schools) might be appearing, drawing students away.


Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Esperanza (Continuation) High School?

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

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

From our statistics, Esperanza Continuation 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 Esperanza Continuation High 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 0.0% 0
Asian 3.8% 1
Hispanic 42.3% 11
Black 0.0% 0
White 46.1% 12
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0.0% 0
Two or more races 7.6% 2

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

What are the family incomes of students at Esperanza (Continuation) 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 Esperanza Continuation High, 3.8% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 84.6% qualify for free lunches.

This means Esperanza Continuation High has a high percentage of students at or near poverty. Almost a third of all schools in California show this level of poverty, and by National Center for Education Statistics standards, Esperanza Continuation High can be classified as a high poverty school. The income level of families in Gridley is thus likely to be low.

Number Percent
Reduced-price lunches 1 3.8%
Free lunches 22 84.6%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches 3 11.5%

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

Unfortunately, schools in areas of lower income levels are likely to be more poorly funded. As a result, they might feature less advanced coursework like AP/IB classes, and you may not have a full range of sports and extracurriculars to draw from. Because Esperanza Continuation High is an especially high poverty-level school, it might not have the resources you need to meet your full potential.

You definitely don't have control over the city, the school, or other families, but you can structure your own learning to be more productive. If you'd like to open yourself to more opportunities, you can look into whether it's possible to transfer to a nearby school with higher income levels.

If not, don't be alarmed - it's possible that Esperanza Continuation High has all that you need for your ambition. And you can definitely be proactive about learning outside of your school, looking to your community or to the Internet to find more resources.

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School Safety

How safe is Esperanza (Continuation) 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 Esperanza Continuation 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 Esperanza Continuation High students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 6 referrals to law enforcement (4 male, 2 female), and 4 school-related arrests (4 males, 0 females). This is out of a total enrollment of 31 students.

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

This means that 32.2 Esperanza Continuation High has major safety issues. For every 100 students, there were 32.2 law-enforcement related actions. This is a very high number that puts Esperanza Continuation High in the top 10% of schools with disciplinary actions.

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

Gridley Unified School District Safety

School Name Total Referred Total Arrests Enrollment
Gridley High 6 4 624
Gridley Unified Community Day (7-12) 0 0 0

Sports Teams


What’s Next?


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Sources

The data on this page is drawn from a variety of sources, including (but not limited to):