Location: Alameda, CA
Are you a student or parent at Encinal High School? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?
We've written the best guide to Encinal High available. Here we'll cover:
- Breakdowns of student ethnicity, gender, and family income
- How safe Encinal High is to attend
- SAT/ACT/AP scores earned by Encinal High students
- Which AP/IB classes you can take at Encinal High
- Every sports team you can join at Encinal High
Let's get started!
Basic Information
Encinal High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in Alameda, CA in Alameda County.
Based on its location, Encinal High is classified as a school in a large suburb. Here's the location on a map:
Contact Information
Mailing address:
Encinal High School210 Central Ave. Alameda, CA 94501-3278
Phone number: 5107484023
Encinal High School homepage: http://ehs.alamedausd.ca.schoolloop.com/
Principal: 0 0Email the principal: 0
Student Demographics
Student Enrollment
The total enrollment at Encinal High School is 1038 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, Encinal High 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 Encinal High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.
From our calculations, the enrollment at Encinal 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 | 149 | 130 | 279 |
| 10th grade | 139 | 117 | 256 |
| 11th grade | 137 | 124 | 261 |
| 12th grade | 127 | 115 | 242 |
As you can see in the table above, the freshman class is 37 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 Alameda could be growing in population, thus sending more students into Encinal High. Alternatively, Encinal High could be relaxing its student policies and taking in more students.
Gender Split
Are there more boys or girls at Encinal High School?
From our statistics, Encinal High has a 54:46 split between male and female students in the high school grades.
Encinal High has a balanced male-female ratio that's largely representative of the general population in Alameda 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?
From our statistics, Encinal 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 Encinal High is Asian. Across all of California, Asian students make up 11.5% of enrollment, but it's rare for a school to be predominantly Asian. Thus Encinal High is notable for having a particularly strong Asian presence.
| Percentage | Number | |
|---|---|---|
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 0.2% | 3 |
| Asian | 37.5% | 390 |
| Hispanic | 17.5% | 182 |
| Black | 19.0% | 198 |
| White | 18.4% | 191 |
| Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander | 1.4% | 15 |
| Two or more races | 5.6% | 59 |
High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Alameda. 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 Encinal High Families
What are the family incomes of students at Encinal 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 Encinal High, 4.3% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 40.0% qualify for free lunches.
This means Encinal High has a below average level of poverty. With most students not qualifying for free or reduced price lunches, Encinal High is below average among California schools in poverty level. The income level of families in Alameda is thus likely to be relatively high.
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Reduced-price lunches | 45 | 4.3% |
| Free lunches | 416 | 40.0% |
| Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches | 577 | 55.5% |
As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Alameda and doesn't speak much about the school itself.
Encinal High 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. Encinal High 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 Encinal High 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 Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High 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 1096 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:
Alameda Unified School District Safety
| School Name | Total Referred | Total Arrests | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alameda High | 0 | 0 | 1855 |
| Island High (continuation) | 0 | 0 | 179 |
| Alameda Community Learning Center | 0 | 0 | 306 |
| Bay Area School Of Enterprise | 0 | 0 | 146 |
| Alameda Science And Technology Institute | 0 | 0 | 169 |
| Nea Community Learning Center | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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 Encinal High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?
We've compiled everything we could find about Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High, 87% (of 265) Encinal 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%.
Encinal High is in the 61st percentile of all public high schools in California for graduation rate. This is above 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 Encinal 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 Encinal 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 182 at Encinal High take the SAT.
This is an average SAT score, putting Encinal High School right around the national average. Because the SAT measures academic achievement, this suggests that Encinal 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encinal High | 503 | 525 | 494 | 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 Encinal High School ACT scores with the rest of the country.
At Encinal High, the average ACT composite score was 22, compared to the nationwide average of 20. Each year, roughly 43 out of 1038 total students take the ACT.
This is above average performance, putting Encinal 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 Encinal High.
Here are the average English, Math, Reading, and Science scores for Encinal High compared to California and the US:
Average ACT Scores
| Source | English | Math | Reading | Science |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encinal High | 22 | 24 | 23 | 22 |
| 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 Encinal 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 231 students in grades 9-12 at Encinal High take 414 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 Encinal High is 2.7 out of 5.
This score puts Encinal 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 Encinal High School in the top 50% of schools for AP tests.
It's great that Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High, there is a total enrollment of 341 in AP courses (a student taking more than one AP course counts more than once).
Of AP-taking students, 198 took AP tests for ALL AP courses. 105 students took AP tests for SOME AP Courses, and 0 took AP courses but took NO tests.
This is stellar test participation. First, every single Encinal High School student who took AP courses took at least some AP exams - there were zero students who took no exams. Furthermore, the students who took AP tests for ALL their AP courses outnumber the students who took just some AP exams.
These are great signs because it suggests students feel prepared to take the tests at the end of the year, and Encinal High does a good job of helping students sign up for AP tests. You'll likely have a good AP course experience here.
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 Encinal 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, 63 students passed every AP test they took, which is a fantastic job. 30 students passed some but not all AP exams, and 97 students didn't pass ANY AP exam they took.
Unfortunately, this is poor performance compared to other high schools. At Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High are on the more difficult side.
However, if you're a student at Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High.
English/Language Arts
At Encinal High School, 60% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.
This is considered above average and puts Encinal High in the top 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. Around half of Encinal High 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 Encinal High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Encinal High'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 Encinal High School, 34% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Encinal High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal 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 Encinal High. Taking AP/IB classes also raises your weighted GPA and makes you a stronger college applicant.
Furthermore, many colleges will accept your Encinal 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 Encinal High School offer?
AP Courses
Encinal High School offers AP courses in 11 subjects.
This is a reasonable number of AP subjects, putting Encinal High School 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 Encinal High 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 Encinal High, 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 Encinal High 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 Encinal High during 2015-2016:
| Course Title |
|---|
| Calculus AB |
| Chemistry |
| English Language and Composition |
| English Literature and Composition |
| Environmental Science |
| Spanish Language and Culture |
| Studio Art: 2-D Design |
| Studio Art: 3-D Design |
| Studio Art: Drawing |
| United States Government and Politics |
| United States History |
Sports Teams
Finally, we'll cover which sports teams are available at Encinal 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 Encinal High.
By the way, the Encinal High mascot is the Jets. Go Jets!
Encinal High School fields 10 teams for girls' sports. This is a relatively number that puts Encinal High in the bottom 50% of California schools that offer girls' sports. This is understandable - sports teams are expensive to support, and many schools would rather put those resources elsewhere. If you participate in a sport that Encinal High doesn't offer, consider joining a local non-school team to get practice and compete.
And now for the boys: Encinal High School fields 13 teams for boys' sports. This relatively number puts Encinal High in the bottom 50% of California schools that offer boys' sports. Sports teams are expensive to support, and Encinal High may not be able to offer the full range of options. If you participate in a sport that Encinal High doesn't offer, consider joining a local non-school team to get practice and compete.
| Boys Teams | Girls Teams |
|---|---|
| Basketball
Var
JV
Fr
|
Basketball
Var
JV
|
| Tennis
Var
|
|
| Football
Var
JV
Fr
|
|
| Wrestling
Var
|
|
| Volleyball
Var
|
Volleyball
Var
JV
|
| Baseball
Var
JV
|
|
| Softball
Var
JV
|
|
| Waterpolo
Var
|
Waterpolo
Var
|
| Soccer
Var
JV
|
Soccer
Var
JV
|
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