Needles Community Day

Needles Community Day is a small public high school serving grades 6-12 in Needles, California, which is part of the Needles Unified School District. With just 19 students, this school faces significant challenges, including extremely low academic performance, high chronic absenteeism, and a predominantly low-income student population.

Compared to the district and state averages, Needles Community Day has shockingly low proficiency rates, with only 8.33% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts/Literacy and 0% proficient or better in Mathematics. The school also struggles with very high chronic absenteeism, ranging from 66.7% to 83.3% in recent years, much higher than the 34% rate at the nearby Needles High School. Additionally, Needles Community Day serves a student population that is predominantly from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, ranking 2212 out of 2235 California high schools for this metric.

Despite these challenges, Needles Community Day has maintained a relatively high 91.7% four-year graduation rate and a 0% dropout rate for the 2021-2022 school year, suggesting the school may be providing additional support and resources to help students succeed. However, the school's performance is significantly worse than the nearby Needles High School and Educational Training Center, highlighting the unique obstacles faced by Needles Community Day and the need for targeted interventions to improve student outcomes.