Palo Alto High

Public 9-12

 50 Embarcadero Rd.
       Palo Alto, CA  94301-2321


(650) 329-3701

District: Palo Alto Unified

SchoolDigger Rank:
129th of 2,346 California High Schools

Per Pupil Expenditures:  $15,583 Help


Feeder schools for Palo Alto High:

Elementary:    Addison Elementary
    Duveneck Elementary
    Escondido Elementary
    Walter Hays Elementary
Middle:    Frank S. Greene Junior Middle

Student/teacher ratio:  16.7 Help
Number of students:  1,992

Racial breakdown:

Asian:
36.0%
White:
35.1%
Hispanic:
14.3%
more

Free/discounted lunch recipients:  10.2% Help


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Performance Trends
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Compare Details Palo Alto High ranks better than 94.5% of high schools in California. (See more...)
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Compare Details In 2023 the calculated Average Standard Score was 92.65. (See more...)
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The Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate (ACGR) measures the percentage of Palo Alto High freshmen who graduate within four years, adjusting for students who transfer in or out.
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The high school dropout rate measures the percentage of students who do not complete their high school education.
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Chronic absenteeism in a high school refers to a situation where students repeatedly miss school, with the threshold often defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason, excused or unexcused.
Student Body
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Compare Details Student population at Palo Alto High is diverse. Racial makeup is: Asian (36%), White (35.1%), Hispanic (14.3%). (See more...)
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Compare Details 10.2% of students are receiving a free or discounted lunch. (See more...)
Teachers
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Compare Details The student/teacher ratio at Palo Alto High is 16.7. (See more...)
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Compare Palo Alto High employs 118.8 full-time teachers.
Finance
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Compare Details The average total spent per student at Palo Alto High is $15,583.
Schooldigger 2023 Rankings:

Palo Alto High:

SchoolDigger ranks Palo Alto High 129th of 2346 California public high schools. (See Palo Alto High in the ranking list.)

High School Test Score Ratings by Student Subgroup:


Multi-racial students:
Special Education students:
Low Socio Economic Status students:
Female students:
Male students:
Asian students:
African American students:
Hispanic students:
White students:


Palo Alto Unified:

SchoolDigger ranks Palo Alto Unified 38th of 1560 California school districts. (See district ranking list.)


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Your rating for Palo Alto High?

Rank History for Palo Alto High

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Rank History for all students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2004 91.99 11th 1653 99.3%
2005 90.21 26th 1901 98.6%
2006 86.59 54th 1968 97.3%
2007 92.01 19th 2063 99.1%
2008 90.82 18th 2117 99.1%
2009 83.48 67th 2238 97.0%
2010 82.85 98th 2281 95.7%
2011 83.28 98th 2367 95.9%
2012 83.27 98th 2354 95.8%
2013 85.19 75th 2426 96.9%
2015 96.32 44th 1994 97.8%
2016 97.08 30th 2039 98.5%
2017 95.24 71st 2021 96.5%
2018 94.77 89th 2017 95.6%
2019 97.82 39th 2133 98.2%
2021 97.05 31st 1290 97.6%
2022 98.26 37th 2123 98.3%
2023 92.65 128th 2335 94.5%
See the entire list of California High School Rankings!

Rank History for Multi-racial students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2019 87.43 32nd 422 92.4%
2022 91.49 22nd 515 95.7%
2023 79.92 101st 780 87.1%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Multi-racial Students!

Rank History for Special Education students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2023 75.23 152nd 1539 90.1%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Special Education Students!

Rank History for Low Socio Economic Status students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2019 87.25 169th 1937 91.3%
2021 87.85 109th 1126 90.3%
2022 82.40 236th 1943 87.9%
2023 54.41 760th 2237 66.0%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Low Socio Economic Status Students!

Rank History for Female students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 97.47 13th 1760 99.3%
2019 97.50 35th 1833 98.1%
2021 97.55 11th 1054 99.0%
2022 98.16 27th 1858 98.5%
2023 92.94 110th 2106 94.8%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Female Students!

Rank History for Disabled students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2019 99.89 4th 1117 99.6%
2022 99.15 17th 1161 98.5%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Disabled Students!

Rank History for Male students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 93.62 123rd 1834 93.3%
2019 97.38 52nd 1880 97.2%
2021 94.29 65th 1122 94.2%
2022 97.65 56th 1916 97.1%
2023 91.63 139th 2195 93.7%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Male Students!

Rank History for Asian students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 81.74 94th 581 83.8%
2019 89.57 29th 582 95.0%
2022 83.21 75th 581 87.1%
2023 73.01 197th 727 72.9%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Asian Students!

Rank History for African American students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2023 80.59 102nd 713 85.7%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for African American Students!

Rank History for Hispanic students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2019 85.95 172nd 1814 90.5%
2022 93.95 85th 1861 95.4%
2023 70.16 425th 2132 80.1%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for Hispanic Students!

Rank History for White students at Palo Alto High

Year Avg Standard Score Statewide Rank Total # Ranked High Schools CA State Percentile SchoolDigger Rating
2018 84.19 154th 1173 86.9%
2019 92.79 54th 1222 95.6%
2022 91.80 64th 1204 94.7%
2023 79.63 182nd 1424 87.2%
See the entire list of Best California High Schools for White Students!

Data source: test scores: California Department of Education, rankings: SchoolDigger.com

As you review the school rankings data, please be aware that some of the information from certain demographics is missing. The reason for this omission is that the data has been redacted from the source data itself due to low population samples in these specific demographic groups.

Redacting data from low population samples is a necessary step to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, as small sample sizes may not be representative of the broader population. Additionally, this measure helps protect the privacy of individuals belonging to these demographic groups.

Palo Alto High Test Scores
Tests: 
  
Grades: 
  
Years: 
  
Group by: 
District Scores:
State Scores:    
  
Subgroup: 






Data source: California Department of Education

Review counts

All ratings (Avg rating: 1)
0%

0%

0%

0%

100%

  

by a student
Monday, October 27, 2014

Open Quote I am a student at Paly and I can confidently say that this school is crushing my spirit. But at least we have good test scores, right? Close Quote



Enrollment information for Palo Alto High

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Compare
Year White African American Asian Hispanic American Indian Pacific Islander Two or More Races Not Specified Total
1988 1204 66 112 33 2 n/a n/a 0 1417
1989 1067 57 124 29 2 n/a n/a 0 1279
1990 979 48 130 28 1 n/a n/a 0 1186
1991 936 42 120 23 4 n/a n/a 0 1125
1992 928 50 125 37 2 n/a n/a 0 1142
1993 918 53 127 35 3 n/a n/a 0 1136
1994 960 58 137 41 3 n/a n/a 0 1199
1995 965 64 159 50 7 n/a n/a 0 1245
1996 965 64 159 50 7 n/a n/a 0 1245
1997 1018 60 180 56 6 n/a n/a 0 1320
1998 1043 67 204 63 10 n/a n/a 0 1387
1999 1112 80 218 64 15 n/a n/a 0 1489
2000 1138 76 230 76 10 n/a n/a 0 1530
2001 1143 70 229 86 10 n/a n/a 3 1541
2002 1158 89 256 110 3 n/a n/a 10 1626
2003 1158 89 256 110 3 n/a n/a 10 1626
2004 1123 94 282 111 4 n/a n/a 48 1662
2005 1091 89 304 120 5 n/a n/a 89 1698
2006 1072 83 351 117 4 n/a n/a 101 1728
2007 990 66 328 102 4 n/a n/a 200 1690
2008 973 67 343 112 5 n/a n/a 0 1500
2009 991 81 368 113 3 9 207 0 1772
2010 1062 76 384 176 2 5 145 0 1850
2011 1071 66 419 161 2 9 124 0 1852
2012 1035 65 462 172 1 10 142 0 1887
2013 1072 66 500 195 2 17 105 0 1957
2014 1030 67 539 199 8 14 87 0 1944
2015 974 67 587 194 11 19 91 0 1943
2016 976 66 622 187 13 21 109 0 1994
2017 926 61 650 206 9 17 123 0 1992
2018 952 51 689 218 6 19 137 0 2072
2019 964 44 711 252 5 14 134 0 2124
2020 933 46 765 270 6 15 142 0 2177
2021 869 28 738 270 7 14 159 0 2085
2022 771 33 711 275 5 17 198 0 2010
2023 699 43 718 284 4 21 221 2 1992

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Enrollment/Ethnicity

For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics

Students eligible for free or discounted lunch at Palo Alto High

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Compare
Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 1417 75.0 18.8 n/a
1989 1279 67.2 19.0 n/a
1990 1186 68.2 17.3 n/a
1991 1125 63.5 17.7 n/a
1992 1142 64.5 17.7 n/a
1993 1136 67.0 17.0 2.1
1994 1199 60.7 19.8 1.4
1995 1245 68.2 18.3 2.7
1996 1245 68.2 18.3 2.7
1997 1320 65.9 20.0 2.5
1998 1387 71.4 19.4 3
1999 1489 77.0 19.3 3.6
2000 1530 84.1 18.2 3.7
2001 1541 82.9 18.6 4.2
2002 1626 85.7 19.0 3.5
2003 1626 85.7 19.0 3.5
2004 1662 91.2 18.2 3
2005 1698 90.6 18.7 4.1
2006 1728 96.3 17.9 4.6
2007 1690 102.2 16.5 5
2008 1500 120.4 12.5 6.7
2009 1772 105.3 15.0 6
2010 1850 99.8 18.5 6.5
2011 1852 n/a n/a 6.4
2012 1887 104.3 18.0 n/a
2013 1957 108.0 18.1 7.1
2014 1944 110.6 17.5 6.8
2015 1943 115.0 16.8 8.2
2016 1994 106.0 18.8 6.8
2017 1992 127.5 15.6 8.9
2018 2072 127.8 16.2 10
2019 2124 117.0 18.1 7.9
2020 2177 n/a n/a 8.1
2021 2085 117.6 17.7 8.2
2022 2010 116.2 17.2 9.2
2023 1992 118.8 16.7 10.2

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Students eligible for discounted/free lunch:

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides low-cost or free meals to students in U.S. public and nonprofit private schools based on household income. Those with incomes below 130% of the poverty line receive free lunch, while those between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced-price lunch. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch serves as a marker for poverty, as it reflects the socioeconomic status of families in a given school or district. A higher FRPL rate typically indicates a higher concentration of low-income families, suggesting that the school or district may face additional challenges in providing adequate resources and support for student success.

Student/Teacher Ratio Palo Alto High

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Year # Students Full-time Teachers Student/Teacher ratio % Free/Discounted Lunch
1988 1417 75.0 18.8 n/a
1989 1279 67.2 19.0 n/a
1990 1186 68.2 17.3 n/a
1991 1125 63.5 17.7 n/a
1992 1142 64.5 17.7 n/a
1993 1136 67.0 17.0 2.1
1994 1199 60.7 19.8 1.4
1995 1245 68.2 18.3 2.7
1996 1245 68.2 18.3 2.7
1997 1320 65.9 20.0 2.5
1998 1387 71.4 19.4 3
1999 1489 77.0 19.3 3.6
2000 1530 84.1 18.2 3.7
2001 1541 82.9 18.6 4.2
2002 1626 85.7 19.0 3.5
2003 1626 85.7 19.0 3.5
2004 1662 91.2 18.2 3
2005 1698 90.6 18.7 4.1
2006 1728 96.3 17.9 4.6
2007 1690 102.2 16.5 5
2008 1500 120.4 12.5 6.7
2009 1772 105.3 15.0 6
2010 1850 99.8 18.5 6.5
2011 1852 n/a n/a 6.4
2012 1887 104.3 18.0 n/a
2013 1957 108.0 18.1 7.1
2014 1944 110.6 17.5 6.8
2015 1943 115.0 16.8 8.2
2016 1994 106.0 18.8 6.8
2017 1992 127.5 15.6 8.9
2018 2072 127.8 16.2 10
2019 2124 117.0 18.1 7.9
2020 2177 n/a n/a 8.1
2021 2085 117.6 17.7 8.2
2022 2010 116.2 17.2 9.2
2023 1992 118.8 16.7 10.2

Data source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Dept of Education.

About Student-Teacher Ratio

Student/teacher ratio is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of full-time equivalent teachers. Please note that a smaller student/teacher ratio does not necessarily translate to smaller class size. In some instances, schools hire teachers part time, and some teachers are hired for specialized instruction with very small class sizes. These and other factors contribute to the student/teacher ratio. Note: For private schools, Student/teacher ratio may not include Pre-Kindergarten.
Finances

Per Pupil Expenditures for Palo Alto High

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YearTotal Expenditures Per Pupil
2018 $15,583

Data source: California Department of Education
Pre and Post Pandemic Data

Impact of COVID-19 on Palo Alto High

The coronavirus has had a profound impact on education in America. Learning shifted online overnight, attendance numbers dwindled, and enrollment decreased. SchoolDigger.com is making it easier for you to better assess how COVID-19 has impacted your school. Through the collection of pre-pandemic (2019) and current data, SchoolDigger.com is sharing test scores, enrollment numbers and school demographics from schools across the country – and we make it easy to see how impacted schools compare locally and statewide.

Rankings

Rank
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Rank
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Ranks 39th of 2133 High schoolsRanks 128th of 2335 High schools
 3.7%

Test Scores

% proficient
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
% proficient
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
10th Grade Science (Palo Alto High)60.859.8
 1%
   10th Grade Science (Palo Alto Unified)64.467.4
 3%
   10th Grade Science (California)23.224.1
 0.9%
11th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (Palo Alto High)84.874.9
 9.9%
   11th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (Palo Alto Unified)85.678.8
 6.8%
   11th Grade English Language Arts/Literacy (California)57.355.4
 1.9%
11th Grade Mathematics (Palo Alto High)76.771.7
 5%
   11th Grade Mathematics (Palo Alto Unified)8075.1
 4.9%
   11th Grade Mathematics (California)32.227.4
 4.9%

Student Body

Number of students
Pre-pandemic (2018-2019)
Number of students
Post pandemic (2022-2023)
Change (%)
Total Students21241992
 6.2%
African American4443
 2.3%
American Indian54
 20%
Asian711718
 1%
Hispanic252284
 12.7%
Pacific Islander1421
 50%
White964699
 27.5%
Two or More Races134221
 64.9%
% Free/Discounted Lunch Recipients7.9%10.2%
 2.3%


Schools Near Palo Alto High









Frequently Asked Questions about Palo Alto High

Yes. Palo Alto High ranks in the top 5.5% of California high schools.

In the 2022-23 school year, 1,992 students attended Palo Alto High.

Students at Palo Alto High are 36% Asian, 35% White, 14% Hispanic, 11% Two or more races, 2% African American, 1% Pacific Islander.

Palo Alto High is fed by the following schools:

Elementary : Addison Elementary
Elementary : Duveneck Elementary
Elementary : Escondido Elementary
Elementary : Walter Hays Elementary
Middle : Frank S. Greene Junior Middle


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SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the California Department of Education. School Attendance Areas provided by ATTOM.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that school and district boundary data are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.





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