The top reported proficiency rate is 5% in Social studies. The lowest is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Kern County Community
Kern County Community is a public alternative school in Bakersfield, operated by the Kern County Office of Education. It sits at an address in the city's downtown core, within a walkable stretch of the urban grid. The school spans kindergarten through twelfth grade on paper, though enrollment data shows students are concentrated almost entirely in the upper grades, with the large majority in grades ten through twelve and smaller numbers in the middle grades. The lower elementary grades appear to have no students enrolled, which is consistent with an alternative school that likely serves older students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional setting.
The student body reflects the broader Kern County region in terms of economic need. An overwhelming majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, making this one of the highest-need schools in any comparison. The student population is predominantly Hispanic, with Black and white students making up smaller shares. Data on English learner status and students with IEPs was not available.
State assessment results are available for the most recent year and they are difficult. In math, across the tested grades where scores were reported rather than suppressed, no students reached proficiency. In English language arts, nearly all tested grades showed either zero or near-zero proficiency, with only a very small share of eighth-graders reaching the standard. Science results follow the same pattern. These are not gaps relative to state or county averages; they are at the floor of the scale. Relative to districts in Kern County, this school's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile of the comparison group, well below the county median. A parent considering this school should ask directly about how the school's academic support model is structured and what the typical pathway looks like for students who enroll.
Understanding those numbers, though, requires context that the data here does not fully supply. Alternative schools frequently serve students who have already accumulated significant credit deficiencies, been expelled or withdrawn from traditional schools, aged out of their original cohort, or are dealing with circumstances that make standard pacing and testing participation difficult. In that setting, a raw proficiency figure tells a parent relatively little about whether the school is doing its job for the population it serves. The school does not have a four-year graduation rate reported in this data, which may reflect both its alternative classification and the complexity of tracking students whose educational paths have been nonlinear. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available.
The school's address places it in Bakersfield's downtown, an area publicly reported to be undergoing active investment and redevelopment, with housing and dining development along nearby streets and proximity to the city's civic and arts infrastructure. Bakersfield as a whole is growing quickly, among the fastest-growing large cities in California by recent publicly reported estimates, and its housing costs sit well below the state average, making it accessible for working families in a way that many California metro areas are not. Rents in the zip code have moved slightly downward in the past year, which may matter to families evaluating where to live.
Program offerings were not available in the data provided. No information was available on dual enrollment, career technical education, counseling staffing, or any specialized support services the school may run for its population. For a school of this type, those supports are often the heart of what it offers, and a parent would want to ask the school directly about them. The district brief was also absent, so no context about recent Kern County Office of Education priorities or changes was available.
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