Serving 1,932 students in grades 9-12, Palo Alto High School ranks in the top 1% of all schools in California for overall test scores (math proficiency is top 5%, and reading proficiency is top 5%).
The percentage of students achieving proficiency in math is 84% (which is higher than the California state average of 33%). The percentage of students achieving proficiency in reading/language arts is 88% (which is higher than the California state average of 47%).
The student:teacher ratio of 17:1 is lower than the California state level of 21:1.
Minority enrollment is 65% of the student body (majority Asian), which is lower than the California state average of 80% (majority Hispanic).
Quick Stats (2025)
Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 1,932 students
Student:Teacher Ratio: 17:1
Minority Enrollment: 65%
Graduation Rate
: 97% (Top 10% in CA)
Overall Testing Rank
: Top 1%
Math Proficiency
: 84% (Top 5%)
Reading Proficiency
: 88% (Top 1%)
Science Proficiency
: 57% (Top 10%)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), CA Dept. of Education
Palo Alto High School ranks within the top 1% of all 9,602 schools in California (based off of combined math and reading proficiency testing data).
The diversity score of Palo Alto High School is 0.72, which is more than the diversity score at state average of 0.63. The school's diversity has stayed relatively flat over five school years.
Palo Alto Senior High School is the older of the two high schools
in Palo Alto, California, United States. Founded in 1898. "Paly,"
as the school is known locally, draws high-achieving and
scholastically-minded students due to the demographics of its
location in the heart of Silicon Valley and its proximity to
Stanford University. In 2002 Newsweek magazine ranked it among the
top 200 public high schools, based on test scores. The school also
carries on a distinguished athletic tradition, marked in recent
years by a rivalry with crosstown foe Gunn. Titles won by teams
from Paly include California State Championships in Boys Varsity
Basketball in 1993 (during which the team went undefeated) and
2006.
Paly is situated on the older, northern side of Palo Alto, a
location it has occupied since 1919. The western boundary of campus
is El Camino Real, opposite which stands Stanford Stadium and the
campus of Stanford University. The northern end of Paly runs along
Embarcadero Road (from which the main parking lot is accessible).
Across Embarcadero Road is situated the Town & Country Village
shopping center. Students take full advantage of their proximity to
Town and Country (or "T&C," as they once called it), and lunch
hours during the school year will generally find them giving brisk
business to its eateries.
The eastern edge of the Paly campus abuts the Caltrain rail tracks,
which separate the school from Alma Street. Commute trains thunder
by on the route between San Jose and San Francisco, their
window-rattling passage routinely ignored by all but the newest
students and teachers. In 2002 and 2003, the Paly community was
shaken by two students' suicides (by jumping in front of oncoming
trains) at or near the Alma Street-Churchill Avenue crossing.
Despite a lack of any public evidence concerning cause, some have
speculated that these suicides were related to the emphasis on
grades, achievement, and the pressure to compete for acceptance at
highly selective colleges that characterizes many Palo Alto
families.
The southern side of the school grounds, with its expanse of
athletic fields, ends at Churchill Avenue and the leafy residential
area beyond. What would be the extreme southwestern corner of the
campus is occupied by the main offices of the Palo Alto Unified
School District.
The school can reached by the VTA bus line 22 along El Camino Real,
the Dumbarton Express bus, the SamTrans bus line KX, Stanford's
free Marguerite shuttle, Caltrain's Palo Alto station, as well as
by the Palo Alto city shuttle, which runs along Embarcadero Road.
The school mascot is the Viking.
In October 2006, the school was among 300 chosen by the California
Business for Education Excellence Foundation for its 2006 Honor
Roll, for "consistent student achievement and progress toward
closing the achievement gap."
Publications: The Campanile is Paly's school print
publication. It claims one of the largest circulations of any high
school newspaper in the Bay Area. It prints around 20 broadsheet
pages once every three weeks. It has won four Pacemaker awards and
also a West regional award for editorial excellence from Time.
Verde is Paly's school magazine publication, published five times
each year. Verde is the widest distributed student-run magazine in
the nation, and has won numerous Pacemaker and Gold Crown awards
for scholastic journalism, including the 2005 Gold Crown award in
the Newspaper category. In 2006 Verde won the Best in Show at
National Journalism Convention held in San Francisco.
The Paly Voice, launched in the 2002-3 school year, is Paly's
online news source. It features searchable archives of all of the
above publications as well as exclusive online content. In the
spring of 2005 the site won both the People's Voice and Overall
Webby Award in the "Student" category, a rare accomplishment for a
high school level Internet site. The Voice was also one of the
national Online Pacemaker award recipients in 2006, 2005 and 2004,
and was a finalist for the same award in 2003.
InFocus is Paly's television news channel. It is broadcast five
days a week during fourth period, and available only on Paly campus
and online. It has recently come under fire from the Paly student
body for its ineffiency, an issue highlighted by the occasional
missed broadcasts due to technical difficulties.
Calliope is Paly's literary magazine, published once or twice a
year. It is also available online.
Theater: Housed in the historic Haymarket Theater, Paly's
theater department is the edgy underdog of Palo Alto theater.
Every other year, Paly holds a Spring showcase of student-written
and directed one-act plays called "Speed Limit 25."
The Thespian Society is the oldest club on campus, and facilitates
field trips to see plays throughout the Bay Area, as well as to
attend acting and improv workshops. Since 2004, the annual Play in
a Day festival has been held the first weekend of Winter Break,
when theater alumni join current students in the Haymarket to
write, rehearse and perform one-act plays within a period of just
over 24 hours.
Past productions include: Big Love, The Fantasticks, A Chorus Line,
Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage, Speed Limit 25, Metamorphoses, A
Midsummer Night's Dream, Learned Ladies, Romeo and Juliet, and 43
Plays For 43 Presidents.
The Grateful Dead (then the Warlocks) played at the Haymarket
during the 60's, as well as legendary jazz pianist Thelonius Monk,
and several other well known artists of the time.
Paly Robotics: The Palo Alto High School (Paly) Robotics
Team, established in 1996 by Doug Bertain and his engineering
technology students, is one of the many active academic programs at
Paly. They are funded mainly by corporate sponsors and compete
annually in competitions such as the For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Competition, the
Electric Vehicle Rally, Botball, and the Tech Challenge. In 2006,
the Robotics team won first place at the FIRST Las Vegas Regional
Competition.
Campus Traditions: Since Palo Alto High school was built at
its current location in 1919, it has acquired a host of campus
traditions.
Spirit Week: Each class is assigned a color for Spirit Week,
which they wear on Wednesday. Each day has its own costume theme,
which is broken down into sub-themes by class. Rallies and
competitions are held on the quad at lunch and points are awarded
to each class based on their performance. Points can also be taken
away for poor sportsmanship or the wearing of unauthorized class
apparel.
Spirit Week Themes
Monday: Class Theme; Tuesday: Salad Dressing; Wednesday: Class
colors/shirts; Thursday: Ages; Friday: School colors.
Senior Pranks: Six-foot C painted on Stanford's main quad
(c. 1940).
Cow in Tower Building (possibly apocryphal).
Library broken into; library carrels moved to quad (1997).
Giant inflatable water polo ball taken from Stanford was
re-inflated on top of the library building (2003).
Eight-foot paper mach茅 and chicken wire penis was tied between palm
trees and dangled across the quad (1991).
Hundreds of crickets unleashed in the library prior to the finals
for grades 9-11, Class of '99.
"06" of dead grass in the Quad.
Complete classroom moved to quad and reassembled, Class of '99.
"Herbology" spirit week theme (which cost seniors spirit week),
Class of '06.
Streaking: Typically a group of just graduated seniors
streak across the quad during the last week of school (usually the
last day of classes at brunch).
Notable Alumni: Rink Babka, Olympic discus thrower, class of
1954.
Jon Huntsman, billionaire founder of Huntsman Corporation, class of
1955.
Joan Baez, folk singer, class of 1958.
Grace Slick, rock singer, class of 1958.
Joe Simitian, California State Assemblyman (2000-2004); California
State Senator (2004).
Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator, Oregon, class of 1967.
John Markoff, reporter, New York Times, class of 1967.
Tad Williams, author of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Otherland,
and Shadowmarch Science Fiction/Fantasy series, class of 1975.
Dave Schultz, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion wrestler,
class of 1977.
Mark Schultz, Olympic and World Champion wrestler, class of 1978.
Rob Minkoff, director (The Lion King, etc), class of 1980.
Jim Harbaugh, football player, class of 1982.
Whitfield Crane, Lead Singer - Ugly Kid Joe, class of 1984?
Ron "Money B" Brooks, Rapper - Digital Underground class of 1987?
Ted Turkington, Baseball Coach, St. Ignatius College Preparatory,
class of 1991.
James Franco, actor, class of 1996.
The Donnas, rock band (Brett Anderson, Maya Ford, Allison
Robertson, and Torry Castellano), class of 1997.
Timi Wusu, Stanford Football, Oakland Raiders, class of 2001.
Notable Visitors: Walter Mondale, Former U.S. Vice
President, 2006.
David M. Kennedy, Historian and author of The American Pageant,
2006.
Mary Tillman, Mother of the late American football player and
soldier Pat Tillman, 2006.
Alan Bersin, California Secretary of Education, 2006.
Annette Bening, American Academy Award-nominated and Golden
Globe-winning actress, 2006.
Palo Alto High School is ranked #93 out of 9,602 schools, which ranks it among the top 1% of public schools in California.
What schools are Palo Alto High School often compared to?
Palo Alto High Schoolis often viewed alongside schools like Henry M. Gunn High School by visitors of our site.
What percent of students have achieved state testing proficiency in math and reading?
84% of students have achieved math proficiency (compared to the 33% CA state average), while 88% of students have achieved reading proficiency (compared to the 47% CA state average).
What is the graduation rate of Palo Alto High School?
The graduation rate of Palo Alto High School is 97%, which is higher than the California state average of 87%.
How many students attend Palo Alto High School?
1,932 students attend Palo Alto High School.
What is the racial composition of the student body?
36% of Palo Alto High School students are Asian, 35% of students are White, 14% of students are Hispanic, 12% of students are Two or more races, 2% of students are Black, and 1% of students are Hawaiian.
What is the student:teacher ratio of Palo Alto High School?
Palo Alto High School has a student ration of 17:1, which is lower than the California state average of 21:1.
What grades does Palo Alto High School offer ?
Palo Alto High School offers enrollment in grades 9-12
What school district is Palo Alto High School part of?
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Quick Stats (2025)
Grades: 9-12
Enrollment: 1,932 students
Student:Teacher Ratio: 17:1
Minority Enrollment: 65%
Graduation Rate
: 97% (Top 10%)
Overall Testing Rank
: Top 1%
Math Proficiency
: 84% (Top 5%)
Reading Proficiency
: 88% (Top 1%)
Science Proficiency
: 57% (Top 10%)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), CA Dept. of Education
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