Richmond Alternative School
Richmond · VA · Richmond City Public Schools · Public · K-12 combined
📄 Shareable scorecard →Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Richmond Hospital Ep. → Open High → Metropolitan Day School → Virginia Treatment Ctr. → Richmond Community High → Geara Group/Educational Developmental Center → Armstrong High → Veritas School →📋 At a glance
- 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 6% of US high schools
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 1% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 42% (Bottom 8% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Richmond Alternative School compares for families
What families should know about Richmond Alternative School.
- ▸ LocallyVA 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: Richmond Hospital Ep., Open High, Metropolitan Day School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
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SAT / ACT participation
CRDC federal data · 2020-21Bottom 1% 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 8% 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 +24.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 277 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $14,923 per student in district revenue, the 567 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $8,461,341/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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond Hospital Ep. Richmond |
Public | 0.8 | — | — |
| Open High Richmond |
Public | 1.0 | 171 | -9.0% |
| Metropolitan Day School Richmond |
Private | 1.5 | 9 | — |
| Virginia Treatment Ctr. Richmond |
Public | 1.6 | — | — |
| Richmond Community High Richmond |
Public | 1.6 | 211 | +0.0% |
| Geara Group/Educational Developmental Center Richmond |
Private | 1.9 | 37 | — |
| Armstrong High Richmond |
Public | 2.1 | 709 | -8.6% |
| Veritas School Richmond |
Private | 2.1 | 625 | +18.1% |