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San Luis Obispo High

San Luis Obispo · CA · San Luis Coastal Unified · Public

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📚AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally 📖17 AP courses 🎓96% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 17 AP courses offered — Elite
  • 🔢 7 calculus classes · 4 physics · 16 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 84th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 96% (82th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How San Luis Obispo High compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 17 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: PEEP - PREPARE, Mission College Prep High School, Pacific Beach High 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
17
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
20
7 calculus · 13 advanced
Lab science classes
20
4 physics · 16 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

84th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
300
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
17.9
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?

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
96%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
370
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)
10.0%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
30.8%
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

Title I Targeted Assistance eligible

35-39% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Targeted Assistance

39.0%
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)

35-39% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school can receive Title I funds targeted to identified students (not schoolwide).

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
420:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
77
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 365 in 2021 to 393 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+7.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +0.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,678 students:

2025
1,692
2027
1,721
2029
1,750

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

Revenue upside

At $18,834 per student in district revenue, the 72 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,356,048/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
PEEP - PREPARE
San Luis Obispo
Public 0.2 21
Mission College Prep High School
San Luis Obispo
Private 1.0 273 -11.4%
Pacific Beach High
San Luis Obispo
Public 3.0 62 +17.0%
San Luis Obispo County Juvenile Court
San Luis Obispo
Public 4.7 11
Grizzly ChalleNGe Charter
San Luis Obispo
Public · charter 5.3 241 +36.2%
San Luis Obispo County Community
San Luis Obispo
Public 6.3 73 +25.9%
San Luis County Special Education
San Luis Obispo
Public 6.3 7
Coastal Christian School
Pismo Beach
Private 10.3 348 +78.5%

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