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Heide Trask High

Rocky Point · NC · Pender County Schools · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 4 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 58th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 67th 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 Heide Trask High compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 58th percentile nationally with 4 AP courses.
  • LocallyNC 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: Pender Innovative Learning Academy, Penderlea Christian Academy, Emsley A Laney High and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

58th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
4
Math ✓
Advanced math classes
5
0 calculus · 5 advanced
Lab science classes
2
0 physics · 2 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

67th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
136
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
18.6
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
203
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)
5.0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
40.0%
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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

99.6%
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)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
41.1%
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
301
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
322:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
2.3
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
47
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 141 in 2021 to 187 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+32.6%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +2.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 732 students:

2025
754
2027
799
2029
846

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue upside

At $11,288 per student in district revenue, the 114 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,286,832/year in additional funding.

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
Pender Innovative Learning Academy
Rocky Point
Public 2.6 23
Penderlea Christian Academy
Willard
Private 6.0 93
Emsley A Laney High
Wilmington
Public 9.7 2,243 +6.1%
Pender High
Burgaw
Public 10.1 648 +5.7%
Wilmington Christian Academy
Wilmington
Private 11.7 730 +21.1%
Topsail High
Hampstead
Public 12.4 1,945 +25.7%
Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington
Wilmington
Public · charter 12.9 172 +18.6%
Career Readiness Academy at Mosley PLC
Wilmington
Public 13.4 115 +22.3%

For Parents

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