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Holliston High

Holliston · MA · Holliston · Public

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📚AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally 📖16 AP courses 🎓96% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 16 AP courses offered — Elite
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 13 physics · 16 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 78th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 96% (82th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Holliston High compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 16 AP courses.
  • LocallyMA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+14 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: North American Hockey Academy, Medway High, Ashland High 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

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
16
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
15
5 calculus · 10 advanced
Lab science classes
29
13 physics · 16 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

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

78th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
220
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
27.3
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?

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
96%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
225
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)
4.6%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
41.2%
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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
6.9%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
56
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: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. 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
124:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
6.5
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
64
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 219 in 2021 to 200 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-8.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.1%/year, projecting from 2024's 809 students:

2025
808
2027
806
2029
804

≈ 5 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 $18,519 per student in district revenue, the 5 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $92,595/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
North American Hockey Academy
Wellesley
Private 2.4 28
Medway High
Medway
Public 3.6 622 -2.7%
Ashland High
Ashland
Public 4.0 884 +8.9%
Hopkinton High
Hopkinton
Public 4.0 1,263 +4.7%
Evergreen Center
Milford
Private 4.3 90 -12.6%
Joseph P Keefe Technical High School
Framingham
Public 4.9 896 +5.4%
Riverside School
Milford
Private 5.0 4
Millis High School
Millis
Public 5.3 286 -12.8%

For Parents

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