Original Research by School Decision on Soar High (students on Academic Rise)
SOAR High, which stands for Students On Academic Rise, is a public alternative high school in Lancaster serving grades nine through twelve. It sits within the Antelope Valley Union High School District. Alternative schools in California often serve students whose circumstances, learning styles, or academic trajectories differ from the traditional comprehensive high school model, and that context matters when reading the data here.
On state assessments, the school's results are available for a single year. English language arts proficiency comes in strong, well above what many alternative high schools in California tend to report. Math proficiency sits near the midpoint, and science falls just at or slightly below that same midpoint. Only one year of data is in hand, so there is no trend line to read yet. A parent who wants to understand whether performance is improving, holding steady, or declining would need to ask the school directly about its trajectory.
Enrollment is a mid-sized figure for an alternative school, with a noticeable drop-off from ninth grade through eleventh and twelfth. That pattern is common in alternative settings, where some students return to comprehensive high schools, complete early, or leave the school for other reasons, but it is worth raising with the school to understand what it reflects here specifically. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with Black, white, and Asian students each representing smaller shares. Data on English learners and students with IEPs was not reported in the data available.
No information on graduation rates, chronic absenteeism, course offerings, AP access, or staffing ratios was available for this school. Those are meaningful gaps for a high school evaluation. Graduation rate in particular, for an alternative school serving students who may have faced barriers to completing a traditional pathway, would be one of the most telling indicators of whether the school is doing what it sets out to do. A parent would be well served asking the school directly about completion rates and what supports are in place for students who entered behind their grade level.
The school is on West Avenue K in Lancaster. Lancaster is a mid-sized high-desert city in the northern part of Los Angeles County, paired with Palmdale as the anchor of the Antelope Valley region. The local economy draws on aerospace and defense, with employers like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Edwards Air Force Base nearby, alongside healthcare, retail, and education. The downtown area known as The BLVD offers a walkable cluster of civic and cultural life, including a performing arts center, library, and museum. The Metrolink station connects Lancaster to downtown Los Angeles for those commuting or traveling south.
Housing in the Lancaster zip code sits well below the California statewide benchmark, though still above the national median. Values have been roughly flat year over year, and rents have edged slightly lower recently. For buyers, affordability relative to income is stretched, as it is across much of greater Los Angeles, and renters are carrying a high share of income toward housing costs. The homeowner context is also shaped by a school facilities bond that district voters approved in late 2024. That measure, Measure AVH, funds classroom modernization, CTE lab upgrades, and infrastructure repairs including plumbing, roofs, and water safety across district high schools. It is repaid through property taxes, so families who own within the district will see that reflected in their tax bills for the duration of the bonds.
The comparison data for positioning this school relative to others in Los Angeles County could not be calculated from the available inputs, so no placement relative to county districts is offered here.
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