Cortez High School
PHOENIX · AZ · Glendale Union High School District (4285) · Public
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West-MEC - Cortez High School → ThrivePoint High School at Metro → Accel → Intelli-School - Metro Center → ASDB - Region 2 → Heritage Academy Pointe → Ombudsman - Charter Metro → ASDB - Phoenix Day School for the Deaf →📋 At a glance
- 📚 10 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🔢 2 calculus classes · 5 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 78th percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 87th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 87% (Bottom 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Cortez High School compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 22% nationally with 10 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: West-MEC - Cortez High School, ThrivePoint High School at Metro, Accel and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth
78th percentile nationally
✅ 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 · 2020-2187th percentile 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 39% 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.
Counselor capacity
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
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of +1.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,132 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $11,547 per student in district revenue, the 83 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $958,401/year in additional funding.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West-MEC - Cortez High School PHOENIX |
Public | 0.1 | 13 | — |
| ThrivePoint High School at Metro PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 0.6 | 216 | +272.4% |
| Accel Phoenix |
Private | 1.0 | 184 | +5.1% |
| Intelli-School - Metro Center PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 1.0 | 39 | — |
| ASDB - Region 2 PHOENIX |
Public | 1.3 | — | — |
| Heritage Academy Pointe PHOENIX |
Public · charter | 1.6 | 84 | +0.0% |
| Ombudsman - Charter Metro Glendale |
Public · charter | 1.8 | 250 | +17.4% |
| ASDB - Phoenix Day School for the Deaf PHOENIX |
Public | 1.9 | 58 | -38.3% |