Summary
Centennial High is a 908-student high school serving grades 9–12 in Compton, within Compton Unified. Its most serious academic challenge is mathematics: 12% of students were proficient in 2025–26, compared with 38% statewide and 46% in the district. Centennial also had the lowest math result among five nearby schools with comparable scores, making math the clearest priority for improvement.
ELA is Centennial’s strongest test subject relative to the state, but its scores still trail most nearby schools. In 2025–26, 47% were proficient in ELA, versus 49% statewide and 54% in the district; Centennial ranked fourth of five nearby schools with comparable results. Science proficiency was 21%, 15 percentage points below the state and 9 below the district, and second-lowest among six nearby schools with results. The academic picture is balanced by stronger completion and attendance: the graduation rate was 98%, compared with 88% statewide and 95% in the district, while chronic absenteeism was 10%, below the state’s 18% and the district’s 13%.
Results have improved over time, especially in ELA and science: from 2022–23 to 2025–26, proficiency rose 16 points in ELA and 11 in science, while math rose just 4 points and its gap to the state narrowed by only 0 points when rounded (0.41 points). ELA’s latest result did fall by 5 points from the prior year. For context, SchoolDigger ranked Centennial at the 35th percentile statewide and gave it 2 stars in 2025–26; the district was at the 64th percentile with 3 stars. Its 2024–25 student-teacher ratio was 20.1, the second-highest among nearby schools reporting that year, and 90% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–25. SchoolDigger’s group rankings show a marked improvement for English Language Learner Students, from the 19th percentile in 2021–22 to the 63rd in 2023–24, 30 points above the school’s overall percentile that year; its 2025–26 Special Education Students ranking was lower than the overall ranking, at the 23rd versus the 35th percentile. Nearby comparisons include only schools with reported results, and subgroup ranking years vary.
Thank you for your feedback!