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Sweetwater High School

Sweetwater · TN · Monroe County · Public

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🎓97% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 2 physics · 6 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 54th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 67th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Sweetwater High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 54th percentile nationally.
  • 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: Sequoyah High School, Fairview Christian Academy, Loudon High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

54th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
Advanced math classes
24
5 calculus · 19 advanced
Lab science classes
8
2 physics · 6 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

67th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
134
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
22.0
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?

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
97%
Range: 95–100%
4-year cohort size
151
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)
17.4%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
6.5%
Around the national average. Worth watching.

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
44.4%
Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.
Students absent 15+ days
271
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
305:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
34
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 132 in 2021 to 149 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+12.9%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 610 students:

2025
619
2027
637
2029
656

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

Revenue upside

At $11,339 per student in district revenue, the 46 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $521,594/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
Sequoyah High School
Madisonville
Public 9.1 766 -12.3%
Fairview Christian Academy
Athens
Private 11.0 98 +14.0%
Loudon High School
Loudon
Public 11.2 771 +8.4%
Midway High School
Kingston
Public 13.2 217 -5.7%
Christ'S Legacy Academy
Athens
Private 14.0 146 +35.2%
McMinn High School
Athens
Public 14.1 1,272 -10.0%
Central High School
Englewood
Public 15.4 583 -11.3%
Greenback School
Greenback
Public 16.9 194 -11.4%

For Parents

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