Central High School

Wartburg · TN · Morgan County · Public

Public 🏛 Morgan County →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

Morgan County Career and Technical Center → Redemption Baptist Academy → Oakdale School → Coalfield School → Harriman High School → Sunbright School → Mount Pisgah Christian Academy → Oliver Springs High School →

🎓97% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
📝 SAT/ACT participation: 75th 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.

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How Central High School compares for families

What families should know about Central High School.

▸ 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: Morgan County Career and Technical Center, Redemption Baptist Academy, Oakdale School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

75th percentile by test-taker volume

SAT/ACT test-takers

197

11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test

Test-taking intensity

53.7

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

4-year graduation rate

97%

Range: 95–100%

4-year cohort size

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)

4.5%

Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.

% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)

54.5%

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

20.4%

Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.

Students absent 15+ days

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

367:1

Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.

Counselor FTE

1.0

Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.

Teacher FTE

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 89 in 2021 to 103 in 2024 — over 3 years.

+15.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -2.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 367 students:

2025

358

2027

340

2029

323

≈ 44 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 $12,110 per student in district revenue, the 44 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $532,840/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
Morgan County Career and Technical Center Wartburg	Public	1.9	42	—
Redemption Baptist Academy Lancing	Private	7.4	9	—
Oakdale School Oakdale	Public	8.5	133	-14.2%
Coalfield School Coalfield	Public	10.6	175	+15.1%
Harriman High School Harriman	Public	11.7	354	+0.6%
Sunbright School Sunbright	Public	11.9	132	-9.0%
Mount Pisgah Christian Academy Oliver Springs	Private	12.5	124	+59.0%
Oliver Springs High School Oliver Springs	Public	14.1	278	+8.6%