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Whitwell High School

Whitwell · TN · Marion County · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 2 AP courses offered — Moderate
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 44% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 57th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 87% (Bottom 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Whitwell High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • 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: Central Prep Academy, Marion Co High School, Signal Mountain Middle/High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Moderate — some AP / advanced course access

Bottom 44% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
2
Science ✓
Lab science classes
8
0 physics · 8 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

57th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
90
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
30.2
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 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
87%
Range: 85–89%
4-year cohort size
97
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)
0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
50.0%
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
29.5%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
88
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 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

Student : Counselor
298:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
1.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
28
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 90 in 2021 to 83 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-7.8%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -7.0%/year, projecting from 2024's 298 students:

2025
277
2027
239
2029
207

≈ 91 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 $10,928 per student in district revenue, the 91 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $994,448/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
Central Prep Academy
Jasper
Public 8.4
Marion Co High School
Jasper
Public 8.4 543 +15.0%
Signal Mountain Middle/High School
Signal Mountain
Public 9.3 755 -0.3%
Baylor School
Chattanooga
Private 12.6 1,068 +3.6%
Red Bank High School
Chattanooga
Public 13.4 772 -3.3%
Word Of Life Christian Academy
Dunlap
Private 13.5 17
Scholze Center
Chattanooga
Private 13.7 6
Faith Missionary Academy
Gruetli Laager
Private 13.7 312 +101.3%

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