Liberty High School: Full Guide

Location: Benicia, CA

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

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Liberty High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in Benicia, CA in Solano County.

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


Contact Information

Mailing address:

Liberty High School
351 E. J St.
Benicia, CA 94510-3437

Phone number: 7077478323

Liberty High School homepage: http://www.beniciaunified.org/

Principal: JoAnn Severson
Email the principal: [email protected]


Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Liberty High School is 74 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 Liberty 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 Liberty 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 Liberty High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Liberty 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 1 1 2
11th grade 18 18 36
12th grade 20 16 36

As you can see in the table above, the senior class is 36 students larger than the freshman class. This suggests that Liberty High is shrinking in size and taking on fewer students.

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


Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Liberty High School?

From our statistics, Liberty High has a 53:47 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

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

From our statistics, Liberty 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 Liberty 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 1.3% 1
Hispanic 21.6% 16
Black 16.2% 12
White 48.6% 36
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 1.3% 1
Two or more races 10.8% 8

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

What are the family incomes of students at Liberty 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 Liberty High, 4.0% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 45.9% qualify for free lunches.

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

Number Percent
Reduced-price lunches 3 4.0%
Free lunches 34 45.9%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches 37 50.0%

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

Liberty 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. Liberty 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 Liberty 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 Liberty 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 Liberty 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 Liberty 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 83 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:

Benicia Unified School District Safety

School Name Total Referred Total Arrests Enrollment
Benicia High 0 0 1648
Community Day 0 0 14

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

We've compiled everything we could find about Liberty 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 Liberty 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 Liberty High, 92% Liberty 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%.

Liberty High is in the 78th percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is well 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 Liberty High School students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.

State Tests

As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Liberty 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 Liberty 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 Liberty High.

English/Language Arts

At Liberty High School, 41% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered below average and puts Liberty High in the bottom 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The majority of Liberty 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 Liberty High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Liberty 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 Liberty High School, 7% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Liberty High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Liberty 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.


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):