Downtown High

San Francisco · CA · San Francisco Unified · Public

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Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

S.F. International High → O'Connell (John) High → S.F. County Opportunity (Hilltop) → Five Keys Charter (SF Sheriff's) → Five Keys Independence HS (SF Sheriff's) → Ica Cristo Rey → Mission High → S.F. County Civic Center Secondary →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

✅ Gifted & talented program

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 33% of US high schools
🎓 4-yr grad rate: 47% (Bottom 9% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Downtown High compares for families

What families should know about Downtown High.

▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: S.F. International High, O'Connell (John) High, S.F. County Opportunity (Hilltop) and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 9% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

47%

Range: 45–49%

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)

32.1%

Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.

% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)

16.2%

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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

71.3%

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

172:1

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

Grade 12 went from 50 in 2021 to 94 in 2024 — over 3 years.

+88.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +9.1%/year, projecting from 2024's 174 students:

2025

190

2027

226

2029

269

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
S.F. International High San Francisco	Public	0.2	382	+30.4%
O'Connell (John) High San Francisco	Public	0.6	460	-13.2%
S.F. County Opportunity (Hilltop) San Francisco	Public	0.8	67	-25.6%
Five Keys Charter (SF Sheriff's) San Francisco	Public · charter	1.1	201	+131.0%
Five Keys Independence HS (SF Sheriff's) San Francisco	Public · charter	1.1	3,447	+46.6%
Ica Cristo Rey San Francisco	Private	1.3	336	-9.7%
Mission High San Francisco	Public	1.3	993	-8.1%
S.F. County Civic Center Secondary San Francisco	Public	1.7	60	—