Alternative High School

PATERSON · NJ · Paterson Public School District · Public

Public 🏛 Paterson Public School District →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

Eastside High School → Paterson P-TECH High School → Newcomers High School → College Achieve Paterson Charter School → Paterson Arts and Science Charter School → International High School → Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts → John F. Kennedy High School →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 18% of US high schools

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

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How Alternative High School compares for families

What families should know about Alternative High School.

▸ LocallyNJ students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+12 points).
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Eastside High School, Paterson P-TECH High School, Newcomers High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

SAT/ACT test-takers

11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test

Test-taking intensity

0.0

takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

69.1%

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

43.2%

Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.

Students absent 15+ days

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

81:1

Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.

Counselor FTE

1.0

Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.

Teacher FTE

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

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 81 students:

2025

2027

2029

A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.

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

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
Eastside High School PATERSON	Public	0.2	2,073	+12.2%
Paterson P-TECH High School PATERSON	Public	0.3	193	+0.0%
Newcomers High School Paterson	Public	0.4	106	—
College Achieve Paterson Charter School Paterson	Public · charter	0.7	528	+112.0%
Paterson Arts and Science Charter School Paterson	Public · charter	0.8	316	+21.1%
International High School PATERSON	Public	0.9	650	-1.7%
Rosa L. Parks School of Fine and Performing Arts PATERSON	Public	1.0	258	+33.0%
John F. Kennedy High School PATERSON	Public	1.2	1,846	-10.6%