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Columbus High School

Columbus · GA · Muscogee County · Public

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📚AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 📖29 AP courses 🎓99% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 29 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 8 calculus classes · 16 physics · 20 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • 🎓 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 Columbus High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 14% nationally with 29 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: Grace Christian School, Jordan Vocational High School, Rainey McCullers School of the Arts 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

86th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
29
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
40
8 calculus · 32 advanced
Lab science classes
36
16 physics · 20 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
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

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
281
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)
2.4%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
87.7%
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%)

20.7%
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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
0.3%
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
4
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
332:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
3.5
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
62
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 284 in 2021 to 297 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+4.6%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.3%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,161 students:

2025
1,158
2027
1,151
2029
1,145

≈ 16 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 $13,552 per student in district revenue, the 16 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $216,832/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
Grace Christian School
Columbus
Private 0.9 144 +89.5%
Jordan Vocational High School
Columbus
Public 1.1 1,040 +17.2%
Rainey McCullers School of the Arts
Columbus
Public 1.2 236 +42.2%
Hardaway High School
Columbus
Public 1.6 1,067 -11.4%
Carver High School
Columbus
Public 1.7 887 +2.5%
St Anne-Pacelli Catholic School
Columbus
Private 1.7 672
Hallie Turner Private School
Columbus
Private 2.0 28
Spencer High School
Columbus
Public 3.5 1,016 +9.4%

For Parents

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For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →