Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy

Northcoast Preparatory and Performing Arts Academy is an alternative school serving grades 6–12 in Arcata, with 200 students. Its 2025–2026 proficiency results were well above California’s in English language arts (ELA), math and science, and reported chronic absenteeism was low. Among nearby schools with comparable all-grades scores that year, Northcoast had the highest results in all three subjects.

Science is Northcoast’s strongest subject relative to the state: 75% of students were proficient, compared with 36% statewide; ELA was 76% versus 49%, and math was 63% versus 38%. It also led nearby Northern United–Humboldt Charter and Redwood Coast Montessori in each subject. Chronic absenteeism was 2%, versus 18% statewide and 39% in the Humboldt County Office of Education district. Completion measures are more mixed: graduation was 87.5%, just below California’s 87.9%, while dropout was 13% versus 8% statewide. Northcoast’s graduation rate was higher than the two nearby schools with same-year figures; its dropout rate was lower than theirs.

Graduation fell from 91% in 2024–2025 to 88% in 2025–2026, while dropout rose from 9% to 13%, so these outcomes are worth watching alongside the strong test results. Northcoast has no SchoolDigger school-level rank or star rating in the supplied information; the district’s SchoolDigger rating is 3 stars, ranked 457 of 968 districts, at the 53rd percentile. The only low-income history provided is free/reduced lunch eligible: 42% in 2015–2016, 33% in 2016–2017 and 29% in 2017–2018; the student-teacher ratio was 22, 17 and 17.3 in those years. These are historical figures, and the data include no earlier test results, current low-income measure or current student-teacher ratio for Northcoast.