Location: Simi Valley, CA
Are you a student or parent at California Virtual Academy @ Kings? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to CAVA @ Kings available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe CAVA @ Kings is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by CAVA @ Kings students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at CAVA @ Kings
- Every sports team you can join at CAVA @ Kings
Let's get started!
Basic Information
California Virtual Academy @ Kings is a public school, supporting grades 0 to 12 . It's located in Simi Valley, CA in Ventura County.
Based on its location, CAVA @ Kings is classified as a school in a midsize suburb. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
California Virtual Academy @ Kings2360 Shasta Way, Unit A Simi Valley, CA 93065
Phone number: 8055810202
California Virtual Academy @ Kings homepage: http://cava.k12.com/
Principal: Katrina AbstonEmail the principal: [email protected]
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at California Virtual Academy @ Kings is 558 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, CAVA @ Kings 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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at CAVA @ Kings 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 | 41 | 46 | 87 |
| 10th grade | 48 | 48 | 96 |
| 11th grade | 33 | 44 | 77 |
| 12th grade | 27 | 31 | 58 |
As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 29 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 Simi Valley could be growing in population, thus sending more students into CAVA @ Kings. Alternatively, CAVA @ Kings could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at California Virtual Academy @ Kings?
From our statistics, CAVA @ Kings has a 47:53 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
CAVA @ Kings has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Ventura 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings is one of hundreds of schools in the state that have a majority of white students.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 1.7% | 10 |
| Asian | 3.4% | 19 |
| Hispanic | 29.2% | 163 |
| Black | 5.3% | 30 |
| White | 59.1% | 330 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 0.3% | 2 |
| Two or more races | 0.7% | 4 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Simi Valley. 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 CAVA @ Kings Families
What are the family incomes of students at California Virtual Academy @ Kings? 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 CAVA @ Kings, 14.1% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 39.7% qualify for free lunches.
This means CAVA @ Kings has a below average level of poverty. With most students not qualifying for free or reduced price lunches, CAVA @ Kings is below average among California schools in poverty level. The income level of families in Simi Valley is thus likely to be relatively high.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 79 | 14.1% |
| Free lunches | 222 | 39.7% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 257 | 46.0% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Simi Valley and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
CAVA @ Kings 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. CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings: 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 876 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:
Armona Union Elementary School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crossroads Charter | 0 | 0 | 169 |
| National University Academy, Armona | 0 | 0 | 238 |
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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about CAVA @ Kings'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 CAVA @ Kings, 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 CAVA @ Kings, 40865% (of 42) CAVA @ Kings 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%.
CAVA @ Kings is in the 26th percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is below 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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.
State Tests
As of 2014, eleventh graders attending California Virtual Academy @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings.
English/Language Arts
At California Virtual Academy @ Kings, 61% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.
This is considered above average and puts CAVA @ Kings in the top 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Around half of CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings will likely rise over time. But it still reflects CAVA @ Kings'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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings, 22% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts CAVA @ Kings in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of CAVA @ Kings 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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings. 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 CAVA @ Kings. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.
Furthermore, many colleges will accept your CAVA @ Kings 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 California Virtual Academy @ Kings offer?
AP Courses
California Virtual Academy @ Kings offers AP courses in 14 subjects.
This is a reasonable number of AP subjects, putting California Virtual Academy @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings, 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 CAVA @ Kings 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 CAVA @ Kings during 2015-2016:
| Course Title |
|---|
| Biology |
| Calculus AB |
| Chemistry |
| English Language and Composition |
| English Literature and Composition |
| Environmental Science |
| French Language and Culture |
| Macroeconomics |
| Psychology |
| Spanish Language and Culture |
| Statistics |
| United States Government and Politics |
| United States History |
| World 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
- California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) System Results
- IBO.org