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Cesar Chavez High School

LAVEEN · AZ · Phoenix Union High School District (4286) · Public

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📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖17 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 17 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 2 physics · 17 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 93th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 89% (Bottom 44% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Cesar Chavez High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 17 AP courses.
  • LocallyAZ 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: Heritage Academy Laveen, Arizona Lutheran Academy, Betty Fairfax High 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

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
17
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
29
2 calculus · 27 advanced
Lab science classes
19
2 physics · 17 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

93th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
500
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
19.2
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 44% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
89%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
525
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)
8.7%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
29.1%
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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
29.9%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
777
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
433:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
6.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
130
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 542 in 2021 to 596 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+10.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.1%/year, projecting from 2024's 2,598 students:

2025
2,570
2027
2,514
2029
2,459

≈ 139 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 $15,870 per student in district revenue, the 139 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $2,205,930/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
Heritage Academy Laveen
LAVEEN
Public · charter 0.2 487 +12.7%
Arizona Lutheran Academy
Phoenix
Private 1.9 201 +7.5%
Betty Fairfax High School
LAVEEN
Public 2.1 2,014 +9.0%
BASIS Phoenix South
PHOENIX
Public · charter 3.0 9
Country Gardens Charter School
LAVEEN
Public · charter 3.0 63 -17.1%
Maricopa Institute of Technology
PHOENIX
Public · charter 3.1 421 +28.0%
South Pointe High School
PHOENIX
Public · charter 4.3 615 +24.7%
Kaizen Education Foundation dba Quest High School
PHOENIX
Public · charter 4.3 84 +15.1%

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