Bluefield High School
Bluefield · WV · Mercer County Schools · Public
📋 At a glance
- 📚 4 AP courses offered — Strong
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 🔢 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 5 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 58th percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 58th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 92% (60th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Bluefield High School compares for families
Solid mid-tier academic profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor at the 58th percentile nationally with 4 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyWV trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−9 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Montcalm High School, Mercer County Technical Education Center, Princeton Senior High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
For Parents
Follow Bluefield High School
Get an email when Bluefield High School's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.
🎓 Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses
58th percentile nationally
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 · 2020-2158th percentile 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?
60th percentile nationally
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 strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. 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 -0.7%/year, projecting from 2024's 618 students:
≈ 21 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 $14,275 per student in district revenue, the 21 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $299,775/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montcalm High School Rock |
Public | 7.0 | 175 | -5.9% |
| Mercer County Technical Education Center Princeton |
Public | 9.9 | — | — |
| Princeton Senior High School Princeton |
Public | 10.0 | 925 | -4.1% |
| Pikeview High School Princeton |
Public | 15.2 | 629 | -0.5% |
| Mount View High School Welch |
Public | 20.8 | 295 | -10.9% |
| McDowell Career & Technology Center Welch |
Public | 23.7 | — | — |
| Pipestem Christian Academy Pipestem |
Private | 24.1 | 106 | +55.9% |
| Wyoming County East High School New Richmond |
Public | 26.2 | 449 | -6.1% |