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Arizona Connections Academy

GILBERT · AZ · Arizona Connections Academy Charter School Inc. (87407) · Public charter · K-12 combined

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📚AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally 📖21 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 21 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 6 calculus classes · 2 physics · 4 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 16% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 52% (Bottom 10% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How Arizona Connections Academy compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 21 AP courses.
  • 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: Great Hearts Academies - Lincoln Prep, EVIT - Campo Verde High School, Campo Verde High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
21
Science ✓
Advanced math classes
16
6 calculus · 10 advanced
Lab science classes
6
2 physics · 4 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program
✅ Gifted/talented program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 16% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
12
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
1.4
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

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 10% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
52%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
221
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

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

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
7.7%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
35.4%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

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.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
1891:1
Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.
Counselor FTE
1.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
75
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 203 in 2021 to 210 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+3.4%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -14.3%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,891 students:

2025
1,620
2027
1,190
2029
873

≈ 1,018 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 $8,081 per student in district revenue, the 1,018 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $8,226,458/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.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Great Hearts Academies - Lincoln Prep
CHANDLER
Public · charter 0.4 235 +19.3%
EVIT - Campo Verde High School
GILBERT
Public 1.4 1
Campo Verde High School
GILBERT
Public 1.4 1,863 -4.3%
Chandler Early College High School
CHANDLER
Public 1.4 80
Ken 'Chief' Hill Learning Academy
CHANDLER
Public 2.1 133
Perry High School
GILBERT
Public 2.3 2,373 -25.2%
EVIT - Perry High School
GILBERT
Public 2.3 2
Arizona College Prep High School
CHANDLER
Public 2.4 2,271 +85.4%

For Parents

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