Location: Quartz Hill, CA
Are you a student or parent at Academies of the Antelope Valley? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to Academies of the Antelope Valley available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe Academies of the Antelope Valley is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Academies of the Antelope Valley students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at Academies of the Antelope Valley
- Every sports team you can join at Academies of the Antelope Valley
Let's get started!
Basic Information
Academies of the Antelope Valley is a public school, supporting grades 7 to 12 . It's located in Quartz Hill, CA in Los Angeles County.
Based on its location, Academies of the Antelope Valley is classified as a school in a large suburb. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
Academies of the Antelope Valley6300 W. Ave. L Quartz Hill, CA 93536-4540
Phone number: 6619487655
Academies of the Antelope Valley homepage: http://www.avdistrict.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=244406&type=d&pREC_ID=568268
Principal: Chris GradoEmail the principal: [email protected]
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at Academies of the Antelope Valley is 237 students, making it a somewhat small high school, in the bottom half of all California high schools by size.
As a smaller-sized high school, Academies of the Antelope Valley will feel like a cozy learning environment. With fewer than 100 students in your class, you'll likely get to know most other students and your teachers well. This will give you the feeling of a small liberal arts college.
But with a smaller student body, you won't have as many activities and clubs to choose from. If you find Academies of the Antelope Valley lacking for your interests, consider looking to your local community to supplement your interests.
Growth in Student Body Size
Is Academies of the Antelope Valley growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at Academies of the Antelope Valley has 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 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 10th grade | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| 11th grade | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| 12th grade | 1 | 6 | 7 |
As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 2 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 Quartz Hill could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Academies of the Antelope Valley. Alternatively, Academies of the Antelope Valley could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at Academies of the Antelope Valley?
From our statistics, Academies of the Antelope Valley has a 42:58 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
There is a large female majority at Academies of the Antelope Valley, 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley. 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley. In yet other cases, other neighboring schools might attract male students, drawing them away from Academies of the Antelope Valley.
If this gender imbalance is a concern for you, we suggest contacting Academies of the Antelope Valley administration and asking if they have any thoughts about why there's a female majority. Their phone number is 6619487655.
Ethnicity Breakdown
What's the racial diversity at Academies of the Antelope Valley? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley is Hispanic. In California, 51.5% of all students are Hispanic, making it the most common ethnicity. Even though Academies of the Antelope Valley is relatively diverse, students of Hispanic descent are the most common ethnicity here.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.0% | 0 |
| Asian | 4.2% | 10 |
| Hispanic | 43.8% | 104 |
| Black | 18.9% | 45 |
| White | 23.6% | 56 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 0.0% | 0 |
| Two or more races | 9.2% | 22 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Quartz Hill. 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley Families
What are the family incomes of students at Academies of the Antelope Valley? 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley, 9.7% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 35.0% qualify for free lunches.
This means Academies of the Antelope Valley has a below average level of poverty. With most students not qualifying for free or reduced price lunches, Academies of the Antelope Valley is below average among California schools in poverty level. The income level of families in Quartz Hill is thus likely to be relatively high.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 23 | 9.7% |
| Free lunches | 83 | 35.0% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 131 | 55.2% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Quartz Hill and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
Academies of the Antelope Valley 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. Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley doesn't cover, look to your local community for activities, or to the Internet for self-study AP classes.
Download our free guide on the top 5 strategies you must be using to improve your score. This guide was written by Harvard graduates and SAT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
School Safety
How safe is Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley: 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley students at risk.
Compare this school with other high schools in the same school district, using the following table:
Antelope Valley Union High School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antelope Valley High | 0 | 0 | 1764 |
| Desert Winds Continuation High | 0 | 0 | 433 |
| Palmdale High | 0 | 0 | 3067 |
| Quartz Hill High | 0 | 0 | 3151 |
| Lancaster High | 0 | 0 | 2452 |
| Phoenix High Community Day | 0 | 0 | 140 |
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 Academies of the Antelope Valley? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about Academies of the Antelope Valley's academics here.
Standardized Testing
Next, we'll look at another major piece of high school academics: standardized testing performance for Academies of the Antelope Valley 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.
Advanced Placement (AP)
Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 1 students in grades 9-12 at Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley is out of 5.
Compared to schools across California, this score puts Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley in the bottom 25 % of schools for AP tests.
This isn't all bad news for you, though. It's still good that Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley, 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.
Academic Offerings
In addition to the standard high school curriculum, many high schools like Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley. 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.
Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Academies of the Antelope Valley 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 Academies of the Antelope Valley offer?
AP Courses
Academies of the Antelope Valley offers AP courses in 10 subjects.
This is a reasonable number of AP subjects, putting Academies of the Antelope Valley in the top 50% of California schools that offer AP courses. You'll likely have access to some of the most popular math and humanities AP subjects, as well as a few others.
The total number of AP subjects is 38, so Academies of the Antelope Valley is missing a large number of subjects, including some popular ones. If there are any AP courses you want to take that aren't being offered at Academies of the Antelope Valley, ask your counselor for ideas on how to cover the gap.
Of course, keep in mind that quality matters even more than quantity - even if Academies of the Antelope Valley doesn't offer every AP course under the sun, the classes might still be taught very well. You can see student performance in the AP score analysis section above.
The following AP courses were offered at Academies of the Antelope Valley during 2015-2016:
| Course Title |
|---|
| Calculus AB |
| Chemistry |
| English Language and Composition |
| English Literature and Composition |
| Physics 1: Algebra-Based |
| Psychology |
| Statistics |
| Studio Art: 2-D Design |
| United States Government and Politics |
| United States History |
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
- AP Course Ledger
- IBO.org