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Pacific Collegiate Charter

Santa Cruz · CA · Pacific Collegiate Charter District · 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
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 5 physics · 5 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 23% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 82% (Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

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How Pacific Collegiate Charter compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 21 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: Santa Cruz High, Santa Cruz County ROP, Santa Cruz County Special Education 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

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
21
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
10
3 calculus · 7 advanced
Lab science classes
10
5 physics · 5 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

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 23% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
19
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
5.7
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 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
82%
Range: 80–84%
4-year cohort size
88
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

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

9.7%
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)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

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
268:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
32
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 86 in 2021 to 78 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-9.3%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 536 students:

2025
529
2027
517
2029
504

≈ 32 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 $12,397 per student in district revenue, the 32 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $396,704/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
Santa Cruz High
Santa Cruz
Public 1.6 1,093 -3.4%
Santa Cruz County ROP
Santa Cruz
Public 2.2
Santa Cruz County Special Education
Santa Cruz
Public 2.2 56 +1.8%
Santa Cruz County Court
Santa Cruz
Public 2.2 20
Santa Cruz County Community
Santa Cruz
Public 2.2 717 +11.5%
Ark Independent Studies
Santa Cruz
Public 2.9 56 -28.2%
Costanoa Continuation High
Santa Cruz
Public 2.9 77 -6.1%
Harbor High
Santa Cruz
Public 4.1 1,013 -2.9%

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