Desert Hills High School
GILBERT · AZ · American Charter Schools Foundation d.b.a. Desert (79872) · Public charter
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Most similar nearby schools
Gilbert Christian Schools → American Leadership Academy Gilbert North K-12 → EVIT - American Leadership Academy Gilbert North → EVIT - Gilbert High School → Gilbert High School → EVIT - Williams Field High School → Williams Field High School → Life - Lauren'S Institute For Education →📋 At a glance
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 37% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 48% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 32% (Bottom 7% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Desert Hills High School compares for families
Solid mid-tier academic profile.
- ▸ LocallyAZ sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Gilbert Christian Schools, American Leadership Academy Gilbert North K-12, EVIT - American Leadership Academy Gilbert North and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 48% by test-taker volume
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.
🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts
What % of students graduate on time?
Bottom 7% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.
👩🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC
Teacher experience & reliability
Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.
Enrollment trend & projection
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -5.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 231 students:
≈ 57 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue at risk
At $11,484 per student in district revenue, the 57 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $654,588/year in funding at risk.
District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.
Nearby high schools — the local competition
The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilbert Christian Schools Gilbert |
Private | 1.6 | 1,470 | +14.2% |
| American Leadership Academy Gilbert North K-12 GILBERT |
Public · charter | 1.9 | 915 | -16.1% |
| EVIT - American Leadership Academy Gilbert North GILBERT |
Public | 1.9 | — | — |
| EVIT - Gilbert High School GILBERT |
Public | 1.9 | 3 | — |
| Gilbert High School GILBERT |
Public | 1.9 | 2,296 | +0.0% |
| EVIT - Williams Field High School GILBERT |
Public | 1.9 | 3 | — |
| Williams Field High School Gilbert |
Public | 2.0 | 2,150 | +9.4% |
| Life - Lauren'S Institute For Education Gilbert |
Private | 2.0 | 157 | — |