Central High (Continuation)

Central High (Continuation) is a 73-student school serving grades 9–12 in Barstow, California. Its most serious challenge is keeping students attending and on track to graduate: in 2025–26, chronic absenteeism was 84%, compared with 48% in Barstow Unified and 18% statewide. The school’s graduation rate was 46% and its dropout rate was 41%, versus 86% and 11% in the district. The clearest concern is that attendance and completion outcomes are substantially worse than those of the district, state and nearby schools.

Test results are very low across all three subjects, though science is the relative bright spot and English the weakest. In 2025–26, Central’s all-grades proficiency was 3% in English, 0% in math and 5% in science. It trailed the state by 47, 38 and 31 percentage points, respectively, and the district by 16, 11 and 10 points. Central also fell below the average for nearby schools with reported 11th-grade results: its scores were 3% in English, 0% in math and 5% in science, compared with peer averages of 43%, 22% and 24%. So science is the closest to comparison schools, but remains far behind.

English results have declined, and Central’s gaps with the state have widened. From 2022–23 to 2025–26, English proficiency fell from 12% to 3%; math was 0% in both years, while science rose from 2% to 5%. SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking fell from the 24th percentile in 2016–17 to the 3rd percentile in 2025–26; the latest rating is 0 stars. Its statewide effectiveness percentile for African American students also dropped sharply, from 18 in 2022–23 to 0 in 2025–26, while the overall percentile moved from 6 to 3. In 2024–25, Central had 11.2 students per teacher and 82% of students were reported as free/reduced lunch eligible. These figures offer context, not an explanation for the results.