Location: La Verne, CA
Are you a student or parent at Bonita High School? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to Bonita High available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe Bonita High is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Bonita High students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at Bonita High
- Every sports team you can join at Bonita High
Let's get started!
Basic Information
Bonita High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in La Verne, CA in Los Angeles County.
Based on its location, Bonita High is classified as a school in a large suburb. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
Bonita High School115 W. Allen Ave. San Dimas, CA 91773-1437
Phone number: 9099718220
Bonita High School homepage: http://www.bonitahigh.net/
Principal: Derek BubEmail the principal: [email protected]
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at Bonita High School is 2026 students, making it a large high school, in the top 25% of all California high schools by size.
Attending Bonita 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 Bonita High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at Bonita 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9th grade | 273 | 269 | 542 |
| 10th grade | 244 | 243 | 487 |
| 11th grade | 243 | 246 | 489 |
| 12th grade | 243 | 265 | 508 |
As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 34 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 La Verne could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Bonita High. Alternatively, Bonita High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at Bonita High School?
From our statistics, Bonita High has a 50:50 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
Bonita High has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Los Angeles 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, Bonita 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 Bonita High is Hispanic. In California, 51.5% of all students are Hispanic, making it the most common ethnicity. Even though Bonita High is relatively diverse, students of Hispanic descent are the most common ethnicity here.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.1% | 3 |
| Asian | 5.7% | 116 |
| Hispanic | 47.4% | 962 |
| Black | 2.9% | 60 |
| White | 35.4% | 718 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 0.0% | 1 |
| Two or more races | 8.1% | 166 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of La Verne. 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 Bonita High Families
What are the family incomes of students at Bonita 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 Bonita High, 5.1% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 19.2% qualify for free lunches.
This means Bonita High has a low poverty level. The overwhelming majority of students at Bonita High don't qualify for free or reduced price lunches. La Verne is thus likely to be an affluent community, with quite high family incomes.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 105 | 5.1% |
| Free lunches | 390 | 19.2% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 1531 | 75.5% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in La Verne and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
Because Bonita 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 Bonita 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.
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 Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High students at risk.
In the school year of 2011-2012, there were 114 referrals to law enforcement (54 male, 60 female), and 0 school-related arrests. This is out of a total enrollment of 1985 students.
To put this into perspective, most California schools (59% of them) reported 0 law enforcement referrals and arrests.
This means that 5.7 Bonita High has minor safety issues. For every 100 students, there were just 5.7 law-enforcement related actions, but this is still higher than 75% of California schools.
With this record, is Bonita High School significantly different from other schools in the area? It could be that Bonita 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:
Bonita Unified School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chaparral High (continuation) | 31 | 0 | 122 |
| San Dimas High | 102 | 0 | 1293 |
| Vista (alternative) | 39 | 0 | 104 |
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 Bonita High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High, 98% (of 465) Bonita 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%.
Bonita High is in the 99th percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is extremely good. 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High School SAT scores.
The average composite SAT score is a 1520 out of 2400, compared to a national average of 1500. Each year, roughly 384 at Bonita High take the SAT.
This is an average SAT score, putting Bonita High School right around the national average. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that Bonita 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonita High | 503 | 511 | 509 | 1520 |
| 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 1520 as an SAT score? Find out with our complete 1520 SAT score guide, including which colleges you can get into with a 1520 or any other SAT score!
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.
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 Bonita High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.
At Bonita High, the average ACT composite score was 23, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 176 out of 2026 total students take the ACT.
This is above average performance, putting Bonita 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 Bonita High.
Here are the average English, Math, Reading, and Science scores for Bonita High compared to California and the US:
Average ACT Scores
| Source | English | Math | Reading | Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonita High | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 |
| 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!
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 ACT perfect scorers. If you apply the strategies in this guide, you'll study smarter and make huge score improvements.
Advanced Placement (AP)
Advanced Placement (AP) classes are college-level courses that are an additional academic challenge may give Bonita 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 467 students in grades 9-12 at Bonita High take 979 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 Bonita High is 2.6 out of 5.
This score puts Bonita High at average performance. For AP tests, the passing score is considered a 3, and the number of students who pass and don't pass are roughly even. This performance places Bonita High School in the top 50% of schools for AP tests.
It's great that Bonita High offers an AP program so you have the opportunity to take courses at a college level. Even though roughly half of all AP students here don't get a passing grade, half do - so with motivated studying throughout the year, you'll be able to beat the average.
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 Bonita 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 Bonita High, there is a total enrollment of 469 in AP courses (a student taking more than one AP course counts more than once).
Of AP-taking students, 364 took AP tests for ALL AP courses. 21 students took AP tests for SOME AP Courses, and 78 took AP courses but took NO tests.
This is good test participation. Most AP students at Bonita High School take the AP test for every one of their AP courses, outnumbering the students who take some or no AP exams. This is a good sign that students feel confident enough to take tests for all AP courses available to them, which reflects well on the teachers and course material. Bonita High can continue to improve by reducing the number of students who take AP exams for some or none of their courses, but it's in a good state.
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 Bonita 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, 133 students passed every AP test they took, which is a fantastic job. 96 students passed some but not all AP exams, and 240 students didn't pass ANY AP exam they took.
Unfortunately, this is poor performance compared to other high schools. At Bonita High School, the majority of AP students fail ALL of the AP exams they take. This usually means that they're not adequately prepared for the national AP exam at the end of the year.
This isn't necessarily the school's fault. AP courses may be too advanced for the typical student at Bonita High, and it's still a good thing that AP courses are offered at all. Furthermore, it's possible that a majority of the AP exams taken by students at Bonita High are on the more difficult side.
However, if you're a student at Bonita High, this is a warning that you'll have to go above and beyond the typical student to pass your AP exams. This may entail self-studying, figuring out who the better AP teachers are and trying to get into their classes, and working hard.
To find out the passing rates for specific AP courses at Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High.
English/Language Arts
At Bonita High School, 71% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.
This is considered good and puts Bonita High in the top 25% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Most Bonita High students pass or exceed state standards, though there is also a sizable portion of students who fail to meet state standards.
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 Bonita High School, 39% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Bonita High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.
Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Bonita 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 Bonita High School offer?
AP Courses
Bonita High School offers AP courses in 16 subjects.
This is an impressive number of AP subjects, putting Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita 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 Bonita High likely means you'll be in good hands.
The following AP courses were offered at Bonita High during 2015-2016:
| Course Title |
|---|
| Biology |
| Calculus AB |
| Calculus BC |
| Chemistry |
| English Language and Composition |
| English Literature and Composition |
| Environmental Science |
| Macroeconomics |
| Music Theory |
| Physics 1: Algebra-Based |
| Psychology |
| Spanish Language and Culture |
| Statistics |
| United States Government and Politics |
| United States History |
| World History |
Sports Teams
Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at Bonita 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 Bonita High.
By the way, the Bonita High mascot is the Bearcats. Go Bearcats!
Bonita High School fields 17 teams for girls' sports. This is a high number that puts Bonita High in the top 25% of California schools that offer girls' sports. If you're a female, you'll have lots of options of sports and levels to try out for.
And now for the boys: Bonita High School fields 24 teams for boys' sports. Clearly Bonita High has a strong sports culture - Bonita High is in the top 10% of California schools that offer boys' sports. Boys will find plenty of options of sports at different levels to try out for. Because more teams usually also means more resources devoted to sports, you can also expect Bonita High sports teams to be competitive.
| Boys Teams | Girls Teams |
|---|---|
| Basketball
Var
JV
Fr
|
Basketball
Var
JV
|
| Golf
Var
|
|
| Tennis
Var
|
Tennis
Var
JV
|
| Football
Var
JV
Fr
|
|
| Wrestling
Var
JV
|
|
| Volleyball
Var
|
Volleyball
Var
JV
Fr
|
| Baseball
Var
JV
Fr
|
|
| Softball
Var
JV
|
|
| Waterpolo
Var
|
Waterpolo
Var
|
| Trackfield
Var
|
Trackfield
Var
|
| Crosscountry
Var
JV
Fr
|
Crosscountry
Var
JV
Fr
|
| Soccer
Var
JV
Fr
|
Soccer
Var
JV
|
| Fieldhockey
Var
|
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
- AP Course Ledger
- IBO.org