Location: Placerville, CA
Are you a student or parent at Sky Mountain Charter School? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to Sky Mountain Charter available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe Sky Mountain Charter is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Sky Mountain Charter students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at Sky Mountain Charter
- Every sports team you can join at Sky Mountain Charter
Let's get started!
Basic Information
Sky Mountain Charter School is a public school, supporting grades 0 to 12 . It's located in Placerville, CA in El Dorado County.
Based on its location, Sky Mountain Charter is classified as a school in a town fringe area, or more than 10 miles from an urbanized area. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
Sky Mountain Charter School4535 Missouri Flat Rd. Placerville, CA 95667-5729
Phone number: 5302953566
Sky Mountain Charter School homepage: http://www.skymountaincs.org/
Principal: Susan ClarkEmail the principal: [email protected]
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at Sky Mountain Charter School is 2032 students, making it a large high school, in the top 25% of all California high schools by size.
Attending Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at Sky Mountain Charter has steadily increased over the past few years. We calculate this by comparing enrollment in grades 9 to 12.
| Male Students | Female Students | All Students | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9th grade | 22 | 21 | 43 |
| 10th grade | 15 | 20 | 35 |
| 11th grade | 11 | 17 | 28 |
| 12th grade | 11 | 13 | 24 |
As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 19 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 Placerville could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Sky Mountain Charter. Alternatively, Sky Mountain Charter could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at Sky Mountain Charter School?
From our statistics, Sky Mountain Charter has a 46:54 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
Sky Mountain Charter has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in El Dorado 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter is one of hundreds of schools in the state that have a majority of white students.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.8% | 18 |
| Asian | 4.9% | 100 |
| Hispanic | 23.1% | 470 |
| Black | 2.2% | 46 |
| White | 61.4% | 1249 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 0.0% | 2 |
| Two or more races | 7.2% | 147 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Placerville. 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 Sky Mountain Charter Families
What are the family incomes of students at Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter, 12.7% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 18.8% qualify for free lunches.
This means Sky Mountain Charter has a low poverty level. The overwhelming majority of students at Sky Mountain Charter don't qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Placerville is thus likely to be an affluent community, with quite high family incomes.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 259 | 12.7% |
| Free lunches | 384 | 18.8% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 1389 | 68.3% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Placerville and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
Because Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter: 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 1720 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:
Lucerne Valley Unified School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View High | 13 | 2 | 39 |
| Lucerne Valley Community Day | 2 | 0 | 13 |
| Lucerne Valley High | 0 | 0 | 260 |
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 Sky Mountain Charter School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about Sky Mountain Charter's academics here.
Standardized Testing
Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for Sky Mountain Charter School students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.
State Tests
As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter 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 Sky Mountain Charter.
English/Language Arts
At Sky Mountain Charter School, 79% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.
This is considered very good and puts Sky Mountain Charter in the top 10% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Most Sky Mountain Charter students pass or exceed state standards, and many of them are likely well above average.
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 Sky Mountain Charter School, 6% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Sky Mountain Charter in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Sky Mountain Charter 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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Sources
The data on this page is drawn from a variety of sources, including (but not limited to):
- National Center for Educational Statistics CCD 2013-2014
- "Free or reduced price lunch: A proxy for poverty?", NCES Blog
- CRDC 2011-2012 school year data
- California Department of Education SAT, ACT, and AP Test Results
- California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System Results
- IBO.org