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Sammamish Senior High

Bellevue · WA · Bellevue School District · Public

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📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖25 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 25 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 7 calculus classes · 21 physics · 25 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 42% by test-taker volume

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

💡

How Sammamish Senior High compares for families

Among the nation's most academically rigorous high schools.

  • StatewideAP rigor sits in the top 3.7% of US high schools with 25 AP courses.
  • LocallyWA 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: Seattle Voctech School, International School, Bellevue Big Picture School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

Top 3.7% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
25
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
17
7 calculus · 10 advanced
Lab science classes
46
21 physics · 25 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

Bottom 42% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
49
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
3.6
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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
14.2%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
37.1%
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.

📊 State assessment · WA Smarter Balanced · grade 10

SBAC grade 10 — met or exceeded standard

School year 2024-25. Levels 3 + 4 combined ("at or above grade level"). Cells suppressed by the state when sample is small.

English Language Arts
59.9%
30.9% exceeded · 190 students tested
Math
33.2%
15.2% exceeded · 107 students tested

Source: WA state DOE Smarter Balanced results. Levels 1–2 = below standard, 3 = met, 4 = exceeded. Headline = level 3 + level 4 combined.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

43.3%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
9.5%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
129
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: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. 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
273:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
68
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 320 in 2021 to 349 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+9.1%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,363 students:

2025
1,389
2027
1,443
2029
1,500

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

Revenue upside

At $22,862 per student in district revenue, the 137 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $3,132,094/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
Seattle Voctech School
Bellevue
Private 0.5 12
International School
Bellevue
Public 0.9 317 +0.0%
Bellevue Big Picture School
Bellevue
Public 1.2 120 -16.7%
Central Educational Services
Bellevue
Public 1.2 66 +11.9%
Bellevue Open Doors Reengagement
BELLEVUE
Public 1.2 24
Bellevue Digital Discovery
Bellevue
Public 1.3 136 +123.0%
Interlake Senior High School
Bellevue
Public 2.0 1,611 +2.7%
Bellevue High School
Bellevue
Public 2.1 1,683 +11.2%

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