Santa Barbara Senior High

Santa Barbara Senior High sits in one of California's most enviable coastal cities, where the mountains meet the Pacific and the lifestyle is famously laid-back — but the academic picture here is more mixed than the surroundings might suggest, landing around the middle of the state pack with room to grow in English especially. That said, the school draws from a genuinely diverse community, and families who value the broader Santa Barbara experience — the culture, the outdoor access, the tight-knit feel of a mid-sized city — may find the tradeoffs worthwhile. It's the kind of place where what happens outside the classroom can be just as formative as what happens inside it.