The School of Arts and Enterprise: Full Guide

Location: Pomona, CA

Are you a student or parent at The School of Arts and Enterprise? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?

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

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

The School of Arts and Enterprise is a public school, supporting grades 6 to 12 . It's located in Pomona, CA in Los Angeles County.

Based on its location, SAE is classified as a school in a large suburb. Here's the location on a map:

Contact Information

Mailing address:

The School of Arts and Enterprise
295 N. Garey Ave.
Pomona, CA 91767-5429

Phone number: 9096220699

The School of Arts and Enterprise homepage: http://www.thesae.k12.ca.us/

Principal: Germaine Nesbitt
Email the principal: [email protected]

Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at The School of Arts and Enterprise is 580 students, making it a somewhat large high school, in the top half of all California high schools by size.

As a mid-sized high school, SAE strikes the balance between size and comfort. There will be enough students to provide a diversity of experiences, like clubs and sports, for you to join. But it'll be small enough that you'll likely get to know most people in your class.

Growth in Student Body Size

Is The School of Arts and Enterprise growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at SAE 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	51	67	118
10^th grade	41	84	125
11^th grade	46	63	109
12^th grade	36	46	82

As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 36 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 Pomona could be growing in population, thus sending more students into SAE. Alternatively, SAE could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.

Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at The School of Arts and Enterprise?

From our statistics, SAE has a 41:59 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

There is a large female majority at SAE, and the imbalance is greater than you would expect from the general population in Los Angeles County. As a result, it'll feel like there are a lot more girls than boys in your classes.

Sometimes this imbalance can result from random chance and may not suggest anything about SAE. In other cases, the school might preferentially select for females (if it has its own admissions criteria), or parents with female kids might prefer to send them to SAE. In yet other cases, other neighboring schools might attract male students, drawing them away from SAE.

If this gender imbalance is a concern for you, we suggest contacting SAE administration and asking if they have any thoughts about why there's a female majority. Their phone number is 9096220699.

Ethnicity Breakdown

What's the racial diversity at The School of Arts and Enterprise? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, SAE has a homogenous student body, with the overwhelming majority of students identifying as one ethnicity. Only a third of California schools show as little diversity as SAE does. When attending class, most students will be of the same ethnicity, with some variation.

The majority of students at SAE are Hispanic. In California, Hispanic students make up the majority of all students at 51.5%, and are thus the most common ethnicity. Predominantly Hispanic schools are the most common type of homogenous school, and SAE fits within this category.

	Percentage	Number
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.1%	1
Asian	1.2%	7
Hispanic	78.7%	457
Black	6.0%	35
White	11.8%	69
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander	0.0%	0
Two or more races	1.8%	11

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

What are the family incomes of students at The School of Arts and Enterprise? 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 SAE, 14.6% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 66.2% qualify for free lunches.

This means SAE 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, SAE can be classified as a high poverty school. The income level of families in Pomona is thus likely to be low.

	Number	Percent
Reduced-price lunches	85	14.6%
Free lunches	384	66.2%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches	111	19.1%

As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Pomona 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 SAE 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 SAE 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise 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 SAE: 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 SAE 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 399 students.

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

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 The School of Arts and Enterprise? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

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

Standardized Testing

Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for The School of Arts and Enterprise 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise SAT scores.

The average composite SAT score is a 1330 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 34 at SAE take the SAT.

This is a below-average SAT score, putting The School of Arts and Enterprise in the bottom 50% of all California schools. Only 24% of students here score the national average or higher. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that SAE may offer a somewhat lacking high school education, compared to schools with higher SAT averages.

Note, however, that an average is just an average - top performers will still be able to impress. If you work hard and get an SAT score well above SAE's average, you'll have a great shot at entering a good college.

Keep in mind, however, that only 7% of all students at SAE took the SAT, so the results could be skewed by the small sample size.

Here's a breakdown of SAT scores by section:

Average SAT Scores (2013-2014)

Source	Critical Reading	Math	Writing	Composite
SAE	448	439	448	1330
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 1330 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1330 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1330 or any other SAT score!

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Advanced Placement (AP)

Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give The School of Arts and Enterprise 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 10 students in grades 9-12 at SAE 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 SAE is out of 5.

Compared to schools across California, this score puts SAE 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise in the bottom 25 % of schools for AP tests.

This isn't all bad news for you, though. It's still good that SAE 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise, 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise 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 SAE 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 SAE.

English/Language Arts

At The School of Arts and Enterprise, 59% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered above average and puts SAE in the top 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Around half of SAE 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 SAE will likely rise over time. But it still reflects SAE'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 The School of Arts and Enterprise, 5% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts SAE in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of SAE 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise 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 SAE. 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 SAE. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.

Furthermore, many colleges will accept your SAE 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 The School of Arts and Enterprise offer?

AP Courses

The School of Arts and Enterprise offers AP courses in 3 subjects.

This is a low number of AP subjects, putting The School of Arts and Enterprise in the bottom 25% of California schools offering AP courses. You'll be very limited in your ability to explore your interests in math, science, humanities, or social sciences at SAE.

Take a look at every AP subject offered. If you want to take any AP courses not being offered at SAE, ask your counselor for ideas on how to cover the gap. If you're a strong student and not feeling adequately challenged, you might consider transferring to another high school to access a more advanced curriculum.

Of course, keep in mind that even though SAE doesn't offer many AP courses, it might teach the few it does offer quite well. You can see student performance in the AP score analysis section above.

The following AP courses were offered at SAE during 2015-2016:

Course Title
Environmental Science
Spanish Language and Culture
Studio Art: 2-D Design

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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