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East Mecklenburg High School

Charlotte · NC · Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools · Public

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📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖20 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 20 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 6 calculus classes · 12 physics · 40 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 82th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 85% (Bottom 35% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How East Mecklenburg High School 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 20 AP courses.
  • LocallyNC 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: Trinity Christian Preparatory School, Providence Day School, Charlotte Secondary 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
20
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
37
6 calculus · 31 advanced
Lab science classes
52
12 physics · 40 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

82th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
263
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
10.9
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?

Bottom 35% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
85%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
445
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)
7.1%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
36.4%
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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

99.9%
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
16.3%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
395
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
404:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
6.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
123
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 363 in 2021 to 472 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+30.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +4.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 2,422 students:

2025
2,524
2027
2,740
2029
2,975

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

Revenue upside

At $11,749 per student in district revenue, the 553 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $6,497,197/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
Trinity Christian Preparatory School
Charlotte
Private 1.6 89
Providence Day School
Charlotte
Private 1.6 1,820 +13.5%
Charlotte Secondary
Charlotte
Public · charter 1.7 106 -19.7%
Matthews Christian Academy
Matthews
Private 1.9 142 +17.4%
Commonwealth High
Charlotte
Public · charter 2.3 377 +127.1%
Charlotte Christian School
Charlotte
Private 2.5 1,150 +6.4%
Philips Academy
Charlotte
Private 2.6 47
Emerald School Of Excellence
Charlotte
Private 2.9 23

For Parents

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