Valley (Continuation) High School: Full Guide

Location: Dublin, CA

Are you a student or parent at Valley (Continuation) High School? Want to understand how to get the most out of high school?

We've written the best guide to Valley Continuation High available. Here we'll cover:

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

Let's get started!

Basic Information

Valley (Continuation) High School is a public school, supporting grades 9 to 12 . It's located in Dublin, CA in Alameda County.

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


Contact Information

Mailing address:

Valley (Continuation) High School
6901 York Dr.
Dublin, CA 94568-2100

Phone number: 9258294322

Valley (Continuation) High School homepage: http://www.dublin.k12.ca.us/Domain/469

Principal: Barbara Heisser
Email the principal: [email protected]


Student Demographics

Student Enrollment

The total enrollment at Valley (Continuation) High School is 79 students, making it a small high school, in the bottom 25% of all California high schools by size.

With at most a few dozen students in your class, you'll get to know most other Valley Continuation High students well. But the small student body size may mean that you won't get access to the full range of activities and classes that other high schools offer.

If you find that your interests aren't well served by Valley Continuation High, consider transferring to a larger high school if possible, or find ways to supplement your interests in your community or on the Internet.


Growth in Student Body Size

Is Valley (Continuation) High School growing or shrinking? This will help you see trends in where the school is headed.

From our calculations, the enrollment at Valley Continuation High has steadily decreased over the past few years. We calculate this by comparing enrollment in grades 9 to 12.

Male Students Female Students All Students
9th grade 0 0 0
10th grade 3 2 5
11th grade 17 8 25
12th grade 32 17 49

As you can see in the table above, the senior class is 49 students larger than the freshman class. This suggests that Valley Continuation High is shrinking in size and taking on fewer students.

There are a few reasons this can happen. The population of Dublin could be decreasing, thus sending fewer students into Valley Continuation High. Alternatively, other schools (like charter or private schools) might be appearing, drawing students away.


Gender Split

Are there more boys or girls at Valley (Continuation) High School?

From our statistics, Valley Continuation High has a 66:34 split between male and female students in the high school grades.

There is a large male majority at Valley Continuation High, and much more than you would expect from the general population in Alameda 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 Valley Continuation High. In other cases, the school might preferentially select for males. For example, in our data we find that continuation high schools unfortunately seem to be male-dominated. In yet other cases, other neighboring schools might attract female students, drawing them away from Valley Continuation High.

If the male majority is concerning to you, we suggest contacting Valley Continuation High administration and asking if they have any thoughts about why there's a gender imbalance. Their phone number is 9258294322.


Ethnicity Breakdown

What's the racial diversity at Valley (Continuation) High School? Does one ethnicity make up most of the student body, or is it fairly balanced?

From our statistics, Valley Continuation 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 Valley Continuation High is white. In California, white students make up 26.3% of all California students, and are the second most common ethnicity after Hispanic students.

Percentage Number
American Indian/Alaska Native 0.0% 0
Asian 6.3% 5
Hispanic 32.9% 26
Black 10.1% 8
White 49.3% 39
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0.0% 0
Two or more races 1.2% 1

High schools usually reflect the population in the surrounding area, so the ethnicities of students likely resembles those of Dublin. 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 Valley Continuation High Families

What are the family incomes of students at Valley (Continuation) 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 Valley Continuation High, 1.2% of students qualify for reduced-price lunches, and 25.3% qualify for free lunches.

This means Valley Continuation High has a low poverty level. The overwhelming majority of students at Valley Continuation High don't qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Dublin is thus likely to be an affluent community, with quite high family incomes.

Number Percent
Reduced-price lunches 1 1.2%
Free lunches 20 25.3%
Do not qualify for reduced-price or free lunches 58 73.4%

As with ethnicity, this likely reflects the surrounding community in Dublin and doesn't speak much about the school itself.

Because Valley Continuation 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 Valley Continuation 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.

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School Safety

How safe is Valley (Continuation) 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 Valley Continuation 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 Valley Continuation 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 87 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:

Dublin Unified School District Safety

School Name Total Referred Total Arrests Enrollment
Dublin High 6 6 1678

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 Valley (Continuation) High School? Will you be competitive for college? Will you have access to advanced classes?

We've compiled everything we could find about Valley Continuation 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 Valley Continuation 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 Valley Continuation High, 90% Valley Continuation 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%.

Valley Continuation High is in the 69th 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 Valley (Continuation) High School students. These are tests that are administered to large populations of students for comparison purposes.

State Tests

As of 2014, eleventh graders attending Valley (Continuation) 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 Valley Continuation 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 Valley Continuation High.

English/Language Arts

At Valley (Continuation) High School, 32% of students meet or exceed state standards in English/Language Arts.

This is considered below average and puts Valley Continuation High in the bottom 50% of all high schools in California for English/Language Arts. The majority of Valley Continuation High students do not pass state standards, and only a small percentage pass.

This specific percentage isn't much cause for concern - because the Common Core is new, the pass rate at Valley Continuation High will likely rise over time. But it still reflects Valley Continuation High's below average standing 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 Valley (Continuation) High School, 0% of students meet or exceed state standards in Math. This is considered well below average and puts Valley Continuation High in the bottom 25% of all high schools in California. The vast majority of Valley Continuation 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.


Sports Teams


What’s Next?


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Sources

The data on this page is drawn from a variety of sources, including (but not limited to):