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Joliet West High School

Joliet · IL · Joliet Twp HSD 204 · Public

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📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖19 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 19 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 48 physics · 38 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Top 0.2% by test-taker volume

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

💡

How Joliet West High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 19 AP courses.
  • LocallyIL 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: Ucp-Cds-Melvin J Larson School, Joliet Catholic Academy, Will Co Detention Center 9-12 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

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
19
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
29
4 calculus · 25 advanced
Lab science classes
86
48 physics · 38 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment 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

Top 0.2% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
1,403
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
40.7
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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
16.4%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
24.4%
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 Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

59.5%
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)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

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
345:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
10.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
203
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 867 in 2021 to 959 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+10.6%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 3,451 students:

2025
3,419
2027
3,355
2029
3,292

≈ 159 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 $23,827 per student in district revenue, the 159 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $3,788,493/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
Ucp-Cds-Melvin J Larson School
Joliet
Private 1.2 33
Joliet Catholic Academy
Joliet
Private 1.3 597 -11.7%
Will Co Detention Center 9-12
Joliet
Public 2.0
Joliet Central High School
Joliet
Public 2.7 3,295 -3.3%
Pathways Academy
Joliet
Public 2.8
Lincoln School RSSP
Joliet
Public 3.2
Lincoln School TAOEP
Joliet
Public 3.2
Lincoln School ALOP
Joliet
Public 3.2

For Parents

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