March Mountain High

About March Mountain High

March Mountain High is an alternative high school serving a small cohort of students in grades eleven and twelve in Moreno Valley. Alternative schools operate outside the traditional comprehensive high school model and typically serve students who have not succeeded in standard settings, including those with interrupted education, prior disciplinary issues, students returning from incarceration or the justice system, or those pursuing non-traditional pathways such as work-study or independent study formats.

The enrollment is small, with the overwhelming majority of students in grade twelve and a smaller eleventh-grade group. Demographic composition is predominantly Hispanic, with a substantial share of Black students and very limited representation of Asian, white, or multiracial students. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the student body comes from households with very low incomes. Data on special education enrollment and English learner status were not available in the provided sources, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about support services for those populations.

The academic results presented are difficult. State assessment proficiency in English language arts is well below what would typically be expected from a high school, and proficiency rates in math and science are minimal. These figures reflect the reality that alternative schools often enroll students who are furthest behind academically and who face the steepest barriers to traditional measures of achievement. The school was not assigned a graduation rate in the data available, which is common for alternative schools that operate on rolling or non-traditional completion timelines. Parents should ask the school directly about its graduation or completion rates, which may be tracked differently than in traditional schools.

The school does not report a four-year graduation rate relative to other Riverside County districts because alternative schools typically function outside that framework. No information on course offerings, staffing levels, attendance patterns, or discipline procedures was available in the provided materials. A parent considering this school would benefit from a direct conversation with administrators about the specific alternative model the school uses, what support is available, and how it measures student progress and success.

Moreno Valley itself is a large, predominantly suburban Inland Empire city built around single-family residential neighborhoods and a significant distribution and logistics sector. Housing costs are moderate relative to California, though affordability remains tight for families on low incomes. The city lacks a historic downtown but is developing a planned town center. Public transportation is available through the Riverside Transit Agency, with multiple bus routes and a commuter rail station nearby. The city has been growing steadily with new residential construction and is home to March Air Reserve Base, Amazon, Riverside University Health System, and other major employers.

The Moreno Valley Unified School District, of which March Mountain High is a part, recently had voters approve a significant facilities bond in November 2024, which will fund modernization and technology infrastructure upgrades across the district over multiple years. This signals continued district investment, though it also means property taxes are rising for homeowners and renters in the district during the bond repayment period.