← CA High School Explorer

New Designs Charter School-Watts

Los Angeles · CA · New Designs Charter School-Watts District · Public charter · K-12 combined

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 2 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 2 physics · 2 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 58th percentile nationally
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 74% (Bottom 17% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How New Designs Charter School-Watts compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 58th percentile nationally with 2 AP courses.
  • LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy, Animo Compton Charter, Centennial High and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

📬

Follow New Designs Charter School-Watts

Get an email when New Designs Charter School-Watts's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

58th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
2
Science ✓
Advanced math classes
4
2 calculus · 2 advanced
Lab science classes
4
2 physics · 2 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment 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
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

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 17% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
74%
Range: 70–79%
4-year cohort size
60
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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

93.3%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
194:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
1.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
18
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

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -14.7%/year, projecting from 2024's 194 students:

2025
165
2027
120
2029
87

A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Animo Watts College Preparatory Academy
Los Angeles
Public · charter 0.1 546 -5.9%
Animo Compton Charter
Los Angeles
Public · charter 0.6 193 +35.9%
Centennial High
Compton
Public 0.7 908 -4.5%
Benjamin Banneker Career and Transition Center
Los Angeles
Public 0.9 196 +19.5%
University Pathways Medical Magnet Academy
Los Angeles
Public 1.1 110 -45.3%
King/Drew Medical Magnet High
Los Angeles
Public 1.2 1,381 +0.1%
Alain Leroy Locke College Preparatory Academy
Los Angeles
Public · charter 1.3 1,159 -9.9%
Verbum Dei High School
Los Angeles
Private 1.4 319 +6.3%

For Parents

Researching colleges for your kid at New Designs Charter School-Watts?

Get a personalized College Plan Audit — find Reach, Target, and Safety colleges matched to your kid's GPA, test scores, intended major, and your family's budget. Free.

Start the College Plan Audit →

For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →