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Palos Verdes High

Palos Verdes Estates · CA · Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified · Public

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📚AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 📖33 AP courses 🎓99% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 33 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 4 physics · 21 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 45% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 99% (Top 0.7% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Palos Verdes High compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 14% nationally with 33 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: Palos Verdes Peninsula High, Fusion Palos Verdes, Palos Verdes Distance Learning Academy 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

86th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
33
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
37
5 calculus · 32 advanced
Lab science classes
25
4 physics · 21 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ 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 45% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
55
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
3.7
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?

Top 0.7% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
99%
Range: 99–100%
4-year cohort size
406
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)
2.8%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
13.1%
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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

8.4%
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)

<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
247:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
6.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
68
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 355 in 2021 to 337 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-5.1%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,484 students:

2025
1,507
2027
1,553
2029
1,601

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

Revenue upside

At $14,520 per student in district revenue, the 117 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,698,840/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.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Palos Verdes Peninsula High
Rolling Hills Estates
Public 2.7 2,075 -11.3%
Fusion Palos Verdes
Rolling Hills Estates
Private 2.7 32
Palos Verdes Distance Learning Academy
Rolling Hills
Public 3.7 28
Rancho del Mar High (Continuation)
Rolling Hills
Public 3.8 41
South High
Torrance
Public 3.9 1,734 -11.6%
South Bay Faith Academy
Redondo Beach
Private 4.6 246 -11.5%
Bishop Montgomery High
Torrance
Private 4.7 846 +0.1%
Redondo Union High
Redondo Beach
Public 4.9 2,921 -6.0%

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