High Schools in Carlsbad Unified

Carlsbad Unified has three high schools in Carlsbad: Carlsbad High and Sage Creek High serve grades 9–12, while Carlsbad Village Academy serves grades 10–12. Enrollment ranges from 38 students at Village Academy to 2,336 at Carlsbad High. The schools’ schoolwide results vary substantially, but Sage Creek is the clearest standout: in grade 11, it leads the other schools in ELA, math, and science.

Sage Creek has the strongest overall profile: its grade 11 proficiency is 80% in ELA, 60% in math, and 70% in science, compared with 45%, 14%, and 19% at Village Academy. Those gaps are 34 points in ELA, 47 in math, and 51 in science. Sage Creek also has the highest graduation rate (98%) and the lowest dropout (2%) and chronic absenteeism (14%) rates. Village Academy’s graduation rate is 86%, dropout is 10%, and chronic absenteeism is 73%, the least favorable figures in the group. Carlsbad High is second in grade 11 ELA at 76%; its math and science results, 49% and 52%, are below the district rates, though above the state rates.

Recent schoolwide trends are mixed: the three-school average fell 5 points in ELA from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, rose 1 point in math, and rose 8 points in science. Village Academy’s science result climbed 16 points to 21%, while its ELA fell 16 points to 45%; its 38-student enrollment means percentage changes may reflect a small number of students. SchoolDigger ranks Sage Creek 75th of 2,137 schools (96th percentile, 5 stars), Carlsbad High 267th (88th percentile, 4 stars), and Village Academy 1,417th (34th percentile, 2 stars). Class size and reported income measures do not follow the achievement ordering: Sage Creek’s student-teacher ratio is 24.7, compared with 23.8 at Carlsbad High, and free/reduced lunch eligible rates in 2024–2025 were 30% and 32%, respectively. Village Academy’s ratio is 6.5 and its rate was 76%.