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Harding High School

Marion · OH · Marion City · Public

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📖8 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 8 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 12 physics · 8 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 73th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 83th 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 Harding High School compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 73th percentile nationally with 8 AP courses.
  • LocallyOH students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Tri-Rivers Career Center, Buckeye Community School - Marion, River Valley High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

73th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
8
Math ✓
Advanced math classes
13
3 calculus · 10 advanced
Lab science classes
20
12 physics · 8 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

83th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
278
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
30.3
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
278
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)
6.7%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
29.5%
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
58.3%
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
534
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
229:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
77
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 212 in 2021 to 157 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-25.9%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -4.3%/year, projecting from 2024's 916 students:

2025
877
2027
804
2029
737

≈ 179 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 $17,493 per student in district revenue, the 179 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $3,131,247/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
Tri-Rivers Career Center
Marion
Public 1.3 583 +15.4%
Buckeye Community School - Marion
Marion
Public · charter 2.4 824 +281.5%
River Valley High School
Caledonia
Public 4.1 455 -11.1%
Pleasant High School
Marion
Public 5.9 347 +2.7%
Ridgedale Jr/Sr High School
Morral
Public 5.9 149 +9.6%
Elgin High School
Marion
Public 8.3 275 +1.9%
Cardington-Lincoln High School
Cardington
Public 12.9 245 -19.1%
Tomorrow Center
Cardington
Public · charter 13.0 98 +30.7%

For Parents

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