Central High School
Knoxville · TN · Knox County · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Richard Yoakley School → Berean Christian School → Lincoln Park Technology and Trade Center → Dr. Paul L. Kelley Volunteer Academy → Fulton High School → Halls High School → Austin East High/Magnet → Apostolic Christian School →📋 At a glance
- 📚 15 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 🔢 3 calculus classes · 5 physics · 18 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 93th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 83% (Bottom 31% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Central High School compares for families
Standout academic depth by national standards.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 15 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyTN 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: Richard Yoakley School, Berean Christian School, Lincoln Park Technology and Trade Center 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
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 · 2020-2193th percentile by test-taker volume
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 31% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
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
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
Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. 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
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
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -0.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,265 students:
≈ 29 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 $11,037 per student in district revenue, the 29 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $320,073/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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Yoakley School Knoxville |
Public | 2.5 | 71 | -40.8% |
| Berean Christian School Knoxville |
Private | 2.9 | 410 | +8.8% |
| Lincoln Park Technology and Trade Center Knoxville |
Public | 2.9 | — | — |
| Dr. Paul L. Kelley Volunteer Academy Knoxville |
Public | 2.9 | 95 | +23.4% |
| Fulton High School Knoxville |
Public | 3.2 | 933 | +1.2% |
| Halls High School Knoxville |
Public | 3.3 | 1,236 | -2.3% |
| Austin East High/Magnet Knoxville |
Public | 4.1 | 663 | +1.1% |
| Apostolic Christian School Knoxville |
Private | 5.3 | 210 | +43.8% |