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Kent-Meridian High School

Kent · WA · Kent School District · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 2 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 5 physics · 19 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 58th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 4% by test-taker volume

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

💡

How Kent-Meridian High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 58th percentile nationally with 2 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: Dynamic Family Services, Individualized Graduation & Degree Program, The Outreach Program and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

58th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
2
Subject breadth not reported
Advanced math classes
8
3 calculus · 5 advanced
Lab science classes
24
5 physics · 19 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 4% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
2
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
0.1
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)
7.0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
56.9%
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
35.7%
14.5% exceeded · 138 students tested
Math
11.8%
5.9% exceeded · 46 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

68.9%
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.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
328:1
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
95
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 463 in 2021 to 414 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-10.6%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -7.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,639 students:

2025
1,515
2027
1,295
2029
1,106

≈ 533 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 $18,352 per student in district revenue, the 533 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $9,781,616/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
Dynamic Family Services
Kent
Public 0.6
Individualized Graduation & Degree Program
Kent
Public 0.7 370 +82.3%
The Outreach Program
Kent
Public 0.8 62 -16.2%
Regional Justice Center
Kent
Public 1.6 9
Auburn Mountainview High School
Auburn
Public 2.7 1,560 -2.1%
Kent Laboratory Academy
Kent
Public 2.9 129 -16.2%
Cascade Vista Baptist School
Kent
Private 3.0 124 +20.4%
Kentridge High School
Kent
Public 3.4 2,186 +8.5%

For Parents

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