John C. Kimball High School: Full Guide

Location: Tracy, CA

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

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

John C. Kimball 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, John C. Kimball High is classified as a school in a rural fringe area, near an urbanized area. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

John C. Kimball High School
3200 Jaguar Run
Tracy, CA 95377-7216

Phone number: 2098326600

John C. Kimball High School homepage: https://www.tracy.k12.ca.us/sites/khs/

Principal: Rob Pecot
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at John C. Kimball High School is 2177 students, making it a large high school, in the top 25% of all California high schools by size.

Attending John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at John C. Kimball 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	302	270	572
10^th grade	303	313	616
11^th grade	242	233	475
12^th grade	246	268	514

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 58 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 John C. Kimball High. Alternatively, John C. Kimball High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at John C. Kimball High School?

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

John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

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

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.6%	14
Asian	26.3%	574
Hispanic	31.0%	676
Black	8.5%	186
White	25.8%	562
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	1.0%	22
Two or more races	6.5%	143

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 John C. Kimball High Families

What are the family incomes of students at John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High, 7.5% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 18.6% qualify for free lunches.

This means John C. Kimball High has a low poverty level. The overwhelming majority of students at John C. Kimball 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	164	7.5%
Free lunches	406	18.6%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	1607	73.8%

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

Because John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High students at risk.

In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 33 referrals to law enforcement (24 male, 9 female), and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 1966 students.

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

This means that 1.6 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High School significantly different from other schools in the area? It could be that John C. Kimball 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
Tracy High	32	1957
Willow Community Day	0	38
Millennium Charter	0	0

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 John C. Kimball High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about John C. Kimball High's academics here.

Standardized Testing

Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High School SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1510 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 308 at John C. Kimball High take the SAT.

This is an average SAT score, putting John C. Kimball High School right around the national average. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that John C. Kimball 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
John C. Kimball High	500	517	500	1510
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 1510 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1510 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1510 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 John C. Kimball High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.

At John C. Kimball High, the average ACT composite score was 22, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 71 out of 2177 total students take the ACT.

This is above average performance, putting John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High.

Here are the average English, Math, Reading, and Science scores for John C. Kimball High compared to California and the US:

Average ACT Scores

Source	English	Math	Reading	Science
John C. Kimball High	22	23	22	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 John C. Kimball 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 286 students in grades 9-12 at John C. Kimball High take 480 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 John C. Kimball High is 3.2 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 John C. Kimball High School in the top 25% of schools for AP tests.

John C. Kimball 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:

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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High, there is a total enrollment of 494 in AP courses (a student taking more than one AP course counts more than once).

Of AP-taking students, 175 took AP tests for ALL AP courses. 61 students took AP tests for SOME AP Courses, and 244 took AP courses but took NO tests.

This is bad test participation. Most AP students at John C. Kimball High School take the AP exam for NONE of their AP courses. This is an unusual situation, as the goal of an AP course is typically to take the standardized national AP test.

What you want to figure out is why so many students take AP courses but end up not taking the course. Do they not feel comfortable enough taking the AP test, knowing they may not pass? Or is it hard for John C. Kimball High students to take AP courses? Good people to ask are your counselors and AP teachers.

Hopefully, you may find that there are just logistical issues with taking AP tests that you might be able to overcome. However, you may also learn that the AP courses at John C. Kimball High don't prepare students well enough for the test, which reflects poorly on the AP program at your school. If the AP resources available to you don't give you confidence, consider self-studying to prepare for the AP test.

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 John C. Kimball 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, 113 students passed every AP test they took, which is a fantastic job. 31 students passed some but not all AP exams, and 93 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 John C. Kimball High School fail all the AP exams they take.

Overall, this points to a fairly strong AP program at John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High may be stronger at some subjects and weaker in others.

If you attend John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High.

English/Language Arts

At John C. Kimball High School, 54% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered above average and puts John C. Kimball High in the top 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Around half of John C. Kimball High students pass state standards, and around half do not.

This specific percentage isn't much cause for concern - because the standards have gotten harder with the Common Core, the pass rate at John C. Kimball High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects John C. Kimball High's roughly average ranking 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 John C. Kimball High School, 33% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts John C. Kimball High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

Furthermore, many colleges will accept your John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High School offer?

AP Courses

John C. Kimball High School offers AP courses in 20 subjects.

This is an impressive number of AP subjects, putting John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High likely means you'll be in good hands.

The following AP courses were offered at John C. Kimball High during 2015-2016:

Course Title
Biology
Calculus AB
Calculus BC
Chemistry
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: 3-D Design
Studio Art: Drawing
United States Government and Politics
United States History
World History

Sports Teams

Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High.

By the way, the John C. Kimball High mascot is the Jaguars. Go Jaguars!

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

And now for the boys: John C. Kimball High School fields 17 teams for boys' sports. This puts John C. Kimball 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 John C. Kimball High doesn't offer, consider looking for a local non-school team that you can join.

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
Baseball Var JV Fr
	Softball Var JV Fr
Waterpolo Var JV Fr	Waterpolo Var JV Fr
Trackfield Var JV Fr	Trackfield Var JV Fr
Soccer Var JV Fr	Soccer 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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