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Downtown Business High

Los Angeles · CA · Los Angeles Unified · Public

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📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖20 AP courses 🎓98% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 20 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 5 physics · 9 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 8% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 98% (Top 2.3% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Downtown Business High compares for families

Among the nation's most academically rigorous high schools.

  • StatewideAP rigor sits in the top 3.7% of US high schools with 20 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: Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, Harold McAlister High (Opportunity), Alliance Ted K. Tajima High 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

Top 3.7% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
20
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
17
5 calculus · 12 advanced
Lab science classes
14
5 physics · 9 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 8% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
5
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.6
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?

Top 2.3% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
98%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
218
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)
13.3%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
0.0%
Strong attendance culture among teachers.

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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

81.4%
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
205:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
41
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 232 in 2021 to 172 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-25.9%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -3.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 819 students:

2025
793
2027
743
2029
696

≈ 123 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 $24,124 per student in district revenue, the 123 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $2,967,252/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
Edward R. Roybal Learning Center
Los Angeles
Public 0.0 1,130 +15.8%
Harold McAlister High (Opportunity)
Los Angeles
Public 0.3 34
Alliance Ted K. Tajima High
Los Angeles
Public · charter 0.4 484 +2.8%
Icl Academy For Film And Performing Arts
Los Angeles
Private 0.5 158
School of Business and Tourism at Contreras Learning Complex
Los Angeles
Public 0.5 392 -7.5%
Contreras Lrng Center-Los Angeles Sch of Global Studies
Los Angeles
Public 0.5 317 -3.9%
Contreras Learning Center-Academic Leadership Community
Los Angeles
Public 0.5 392 -20.8%
Contreras Learning Center-School of Social Justice
Los Angeles
Public 0.5 326 -23.8%

For Parents

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