Estancia Improves State Test Scores 2025
Guest Writer, Miguel Orihuela, 11th Grader
In May 2025 Estancia High School dramatically increased test scores across the board, with only suspension rates going up slightly from 2024. English, Math, Graduation Rates, and English Language Learners all made significant gains.
Michael Halt, principal at Estancia High school states, “What that graduation indicator talks about is what was the graduation rate of the class of 2024, and what was the graduation rate of the class of 2025, two different groups of seniors. The important thing that is behind that indicator is the class of 2024 had a high percentage of students who graduated from our special needs program… they receive a certificate of completion, and not a certificate of graduation.”
As you may notice, the graduation rate at Estanica High school in 2024 was relatively low compared to 2025, and this is because of our specific group of individuals here at Estancia. It does not necessarily mean Estancia students have bad academic performance or a high rate of dropouts. Estancia continues to grow and show improvement by the year and teachers and faculty work very hard to make sure every student is successful.
2025 State Testing Results for Estancia
In 2024, the chart shows the English Language Progress being in the low red area, along with graduation rate and Mathematics in the orange.
2024 State Testing Results
Additionally, a scientific study was conducted where students at Estancia were prompted to take a test to rank their subject proficiency. Their Percentile Score on Smarter Balanced and California Science Test was 61.3%, which is well above average for high school students.
Current Estancia student Allen Rosete provides us his personal input on the graph, the way he learns best, and what we should do as a school to improve. He states, “Our mathematics are pretty low, and coming in at 2nd place we got science is also low, but our reading is pretty high, so what I would say is we could try doing something similar to what we’re doing in reading to try and improve our scores in matematics…”
Allen’s experience reveals to us that students at Estancia are trying to improve their mathematics and science scores as Allen mentions that he favors taking notes, and doing practice problems before tests to know that he is fully prepared. Although test scores in math and science are concerning, test scores in reading are strong at 60%, indicating that Estancia students are capable of achieving high academic standards. This should not be a worry however, Estancia needs to rethink how they teach math and science. Fortunately, the solutions are already there, students like Allen are willing to put in the work and teachers and faculty should be encouraged to meet that same effort with better teaching techniques, which is guaranteed to make Estancia more successful than it already is.
