Best High Schools in Zip Code 95453

This analysis covers three public high schools serving grades 9-12 in the Lakeport, CA area (zip code 95453), including a traditional comprehensive school, a continuation school, and a small community school, all serving predominantly economically disadvantaged student populations.

For families, Clear Lake High is the area's main traditional high school, with improving statewide rankings and an exceptionally high graduation rate of 98.5%, though its academic proficiency scores in English, math, and science are below state averages. The smaller Natural High (Continuation) serves at-risk students and shows a surprising strength in mathematics, outperforming the local district average, while also maintaining a graduation rate above 97% and a chronic absenteeism rate lower than the state average. Lloyd Hance Community is a very small school with extremely high per-student spending, but it struggles with severe chronic absenteeism and lacks recent public academic performance data.

Overall, the Lakeport Unified district, which oversees Clear Lake and Natural High, ranks in the bottom 13% of California districts, providing important context. Key takeaways include the notable gap between the schools' strong graduation rates and their below-average test scores, the unexpected academic and attendance success at the continuation school, and the vast differences in resources and challenges faced by each unique school model in the community.