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Martha Ellen Stilwell School for the Performing Arts

Jonesboro · GA · Clayton County · Public

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📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖17 AP courses 🎓97% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 17 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 8 physics · 33 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 68th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Martha Ellen Stilwell School for the Performing Arts 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 17 AP courses.
  • LocallyGA sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Mount Zion High School, Elite Scholars Academy School, Jonesboro High School 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
17
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
31
4 calculus · 27 advanced
Lab science classes
41
8 physics · 33 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

68th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
143
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
28.9
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?

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
97%
Range: 95–100%
4-year cohort size
138
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)
2.6%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
26.3%
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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

100.0%
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)

≥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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
1.6%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
8
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
247:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
35
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 125 in 2021 to 104 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-16.8%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -2.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 494 students:

2025
481
2027
457
2029
434

≈ 60 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 $13,634 per student in district revenue, the 60 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $818,040/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
Mount Zion High School
Jonesboro
Public 0.3 1,232 -6.1%
Elite Scholars Academy School
Jonesboro
Public 1.6 401 +9.6%
Jonesboro High School
Jonesboro
Public 2.3 1,630 +14.5%
Utopian Academy for the Arts High School
Marrow
Public · charter 2.6 291 +84.2%
Evangel Temple Christian Academy
Morrow
Private 2.9 23
Perry Career Academy - Eula Wilburn Ponds Perry Center for
Jonesboro
Public 3.7 887 +0.7%
Forest Park High School
Forest Park
Public 4.4 1,711 -4.1%
Faith Academy - Stockbridge
Stockbridge
Private 4.6 70

For Parents

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