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Connecting Waters Charter

Waterford · CA · Connecting Waters Charter District · Public charter · K-12 combined

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 1 calculus classes · 1 physics · 2 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 37% of US high schools
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 82% (Bottom 29% 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 Connecting Waters Charter compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Waterford High, Sentinel High, Hughson High and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Moderate — some AP / advanced course access

Bottom 37% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
Advanced math classes
2
1 calculus · 1 advanced
Lab science classes
3
1 physics · 2 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment 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
SAT/ACT test-takers
0
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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
82%
Range: 80–84%
4-year cohort size
163
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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

54.6%
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
155:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
85
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 85 in 2021 to 57 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-32.9%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -7.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 776 students:

2025
718
2027
614
2029
526

≈ 250 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 $14,163 per student in district revenue, the 250 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $3,540,750/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
Waterford High
Waterford
Public 0.7 582 -6.7%
Sentinel High
Waterford
Public 0.7 14
Hughson High
Hughson
Public 6.1 859 +7.0%
Dickens (Billy Joe) High (Continuation)
Hughson
Public 6.3 33
Valley Community Day
Hughson
Public 6.3 4
Teel School in Empire
Empire
Public 7.4 102 +34.2%
Denair Charter Academy
Denair
Public · charter 8.1 104 -28.3%
Denair High
Denair
Public 8.3 306 +7.4%

For Parents

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