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Rhea County High School

Evensville · TN · Rhea County · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 1 calculus classes · 4 physics · 15 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 50% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Top 4.0% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 89% (Bottom 44% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Rhea County 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: Rhea County Academy, Meigs County High School, Bledsoe County 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 50% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
Advanced math classes
13
1 calculus · 12 advanced
Lab science classes
19
4 physics · 15 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

Top 4.0% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
666
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
50.0
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?

Bottom 44% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
89%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
343
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)
7.4%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
25.5%
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
24.2%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
323
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
333:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
86
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 321 in 2021 to 314 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-2.2%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -4.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,332 students:

2025
1,270
2027
1,156
2029
1,052

≈ 280 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 $11,474 per student in district revenue, the 280 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $3,212,720/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
Rhea County Academy
Dayton
Private 8.0 135 +13.4%
Meigs County High School
Decatur
Public 9.7 527 +1.5%
Bledsoe County High School
Pikeville
Public 15.4 457 -4.4%
Sale Creek Middle / High School
Sale Creek
Public 16.9 296 -9.5%
McMinn High School
Athens
Public 20.1 1,272 -10.0%
Christ'S Legacy Academy
Athens
Private 21.5 146 +35.2%
Sequatchie Valley Preparatory Academy
Dunlap
Private 22.3 3
Walker Valley High School
Cleveland
Public 23.2 1,450 -0.8%

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