Ranking
Best Santa Barbara high schools by test scores
Santa Barbara high schools ranked on published public data — CAASPP ELA proficiency and graduation rate. Private schools generally lack state scores and are listed separately.
Ranked on published public data — graduation rate where available, then CAASPP ELA proficiency. These are state Smarter Balanced figures, so they only exist for the public schools; private schools don't take CAASPP and are listed below.
| # | School | Grad rate | CAASPP ELA | CAASPP Math |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dos Pueblos High School | 95.1% four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (446 of 469 cohort) (2023-24, CDE DataQuest ACGR, CDS 42767864231726; refreshes the prior 96% 2023 U.S. News figure) | 68.61% met/exceeded standard (All Students; Level 4 39.84% + Level 3 28.77%) (2024-25, CAASPP/Smarter Balanced, caaspp-elpac.ets.org; ~68.6% in 2023-24 — holds) | 45.68% met/exceeded standard (All Students; Level 4 27.78% + Level 3 17.90%) (2024-25, CAASPP/Smarter Balanced, caaspp-elpac.ets.org; ~45.7% in 2023 — holds) |
| 2 |  Santa Barbara High School | 94.3% four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (528 of 560 cohort) (2023-24, CDE DataQuest ACGR, CDS 42767864235727; refreshes the prior 93% 2023 U.S. News figure) | 44.88% met/exceeded standard (All Students; Level 4 13.17% + Level 3 31.71%) (2024-25, CAASPP/Smarter Balanced, caaspp-elpac.ets.org; up from 33% in 2023) | 18.71% met/exceeded standard (All Students; Level 4 5.76% + Level 3 12.95%) (2024-25, CAASPP/Smarter Balanced, caaspp-elpac.ets.org; down from 22% in 2023) |
| 3 |  San Marcos High School | 93.5% four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (460 of 492 cohort) (2023-24, CDE DataQuest ACGR, CDS 42767864235230; refreshes the prior 96% 2023 U.S. News figure) | 55.92% met/exceeded standard (All Students; Level 4 27.96% + Level 3 27.96%) (2024-25, CAASPP/Smarter Balanced, caaspp-elpac.ets.org; ~59% in 2023) | 34.84% met/exceeded standard (All Students; Level 4 19.26% + Level 3 15.58%) (2024-25, CAASPP/Smarter Balanced, caaspp-elpac.ets.org; ~36% in 2023) |
| 4 |  Alta Vista Alternative High School | 82.8% four-year cohort graduation rate (2024-25, SARC / sarconline.org; 83.1% in 2023-24, 82.4% in 2022-23) | 26.09% met/exceeded standard (All Students, small cohort, ~48.94% tested) (2024-25, SARC / sarconline.org, CDS 42767860120402; was 33% in 2023-24) | 9.09% met/exceeded standard (All Students, ~46.81% tested) (2024-25, SARC / sarconline.org) |
| 5 |  La Cuesta Continuation High School | 57.1% four-year cohort graduation rate (24 of 42 cohort) (2024-25, SARC / sarconline.org; up sharply from 23.7% in 2023-24 and 34.0% in 2022-23 — small, transient continuation cohort) | 4.00% met/exceeded standard (All Students, very small tested cohort, n=27 tested) (2024-25, SARC / sarconline.org, CDS 42767864232690; was 9% in 2023-24) | 0.00% met/exceeded standard (All Students, n=25 tested) (2024-25, SARC / sarconline.org) |
Not ranked
State test-score data (CAASPP) isn't published for these schools, so they're listed without a rank:
