Capital City

Topeka · KS · Topeka Public Schools · Public · K-12 combined

Public 🏛 Topeka Public Schools →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

Hayden Catholic High School → Cair Paravel Latin School → Cair Paravel Latin School → Topeka High → Hope Street Charter Academy → Heritage Christian School → Topeka West High → Lawrence Gardner High School →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 18% of US high schools
📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 1% by test-taker volume
🎓 4-yr grad rate: 69% (Bottom 14% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

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How Capital City compares for families

What families should know about Capital City.

▸ LocallyKS 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: Hayden Catholic High School, Cair Paravel Latin School, Cair Paravel Latin School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 1% by test-taker volume

SAT/ACT test-takers

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

Test-taking intensity

3.1

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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 14% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

69%

Range: 60–79%

4-year cohort size

Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years

Compared against

17,988

US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

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

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)

22.2%

Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.

% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)

29.6%

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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days

23.4%

Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.

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 ÷ 2023 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor

64:1

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 -7.6%/year, projecting from 2023's 64 students:

2024

2026

2028

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
Hayden Catholic High School Topeka	Private	0.9	335	-21.5%
Cair Paravel Latin School Topeka	Private	1.2	408	+12.7%
Cair Paravel Latin School Topeka	Private	1.2	410	+8.5%
Topeka High Topeka	Public	1.5	1,564	+3.9%
Hope Street Charter Academy Topeka	Public · charter	2.3	103	+21.2%
Heritage Christian School Topeka	Private	2.4	124	-19.5%
Topeka West High Topeka	Public	2.8	971	-13.7%
Lawrence Gardner High School Topeka	Public	2.9	102	+14.6%