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Somerville High

Somerville · MA · Somerville · Public

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📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖16 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 16 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 20 physics · 15 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 59th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 92% (60th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Somerville High compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 16 AP courses.
  • LocallyMA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+14 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Full Circle High School, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Curtis-Tufts 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
16
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
36
5 calculus · 31 advanced
Lab science classes
35
20 physics · 15 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

59th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
97
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
7.0
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?

60th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
92%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
305
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)
28.9%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
16.2%
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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
16.6%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
232
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: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. 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
174:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
8.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
113
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 317 in 2021 to 351 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+10.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +2.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,394 students:

2025
1,425
2027
1,490
2029
1,558

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

Revenue upside

At $32,338 per student in district revenue, the 164 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $5,303,432/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
Full Circle High School
Somerville
Public 0.0 66 +26.9%
Cambridge Rindge and Latin
Cambridge
Public 1.2 2,049 +11.1%
Curtis-Tufts
Medford
Public 1.2 11
Prospect Hill Academy Charter School
Cambridge
Public · charter 1.4 241 -22.5%
Community Charter School of Cambridge
Cambridge
Public · charter 1.4 118 -35.2%
Horace Mann School for the Deaf Hard of Hearing
Charlestown
Public 1.6 28
Charlestown High School
Charlestown
Public 1.9 642 -2.4%
The Cambridge Matignon School
Cambridge
Private 2.1 344 -19.2%

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