Summary
Ponderosa High is a public school in Shingle Springs serving grades 9–12, with 1,675 students, in the El Dorado Union High district. Its 2025–26 graduation rate was 98%, and chronic absenteeism was 11%, lower than the state’s 18%. Most importantly, Ponderosa scored above state and district benchmarks in all three tested subjects.
English language arts is Ponderosa’s strongest subject compared with the state, district and nearby schools. In 2025–26, 76% met the ELA standard, compared with 49% statewide, 67% in the district and a 72% average for five nearby high schools serving grades 9–12. Math results were 54%, above the state’s 38%, the district’s 48% and the nearby average of 43%. Science was 56%, compared with 36% statewide, 52% in the district and a nearby average of 52%—a notably smaller lead over the district and local peers than in ELA or math. Locally, Ponderosa ranked third of six schools in ELA and math, and fourth in science.
Over the four supplied years, math rose 12 points, from 42% to 54%, and science rose 19 points, from 37% to 56%; ELA was essentially flat, at 76% in both 2022–23 and 2025–26. SchoolDigger ranked Ponderosa 220 of 2,137 statewide in 2025–26, at the 90th percentile with four stars, up from the 88th percentile the year before. Its 2024–25 student–teacher ratio was 23.0, and 18% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible that year, compared with a 32% average at nearby schools with the same measure. SchoolDigger’s subgroup ranking shows a notable concern for Special Education Students: the school ranked at the 54th percentile in 2025–26, compared with its overall 90th percentile, down from the 87th percentile the prior year. Its ranking for Asian Students, by contrast, rose from the 44th percentile in 2023–24 to the 89th percentile in 2025–26.
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