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Pittsfield High

Pittsfield · MA · Pittsfield · Public

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📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖23 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 23 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 15 physics · 16 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 58th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 87% (Bottom 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Pittsfield High compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 23 AP courses.
  • LocallyMA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+14 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Eagle Education Academy, Taconic High, Hillcrest Educational Foundation 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

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
23
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
18
4 calculus · 14 advanced
Lab science classes
31
15 physics · 16 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

58th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
93
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
13.1
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 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
87%
Range: 85–89%
4-year cohort size
199
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)
11.0%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
37.2%
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
35.1%
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
255
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
121:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
6.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
70
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 169 in 2021 to 161 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-4.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +2.7%/year, projecting from 2024's 727 students:

2025
746
2027
787
2029
829

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

Revenue upside

At $23,516 per student in district revenue, the 102 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $2,398,632/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
Eagle Education Academy
Pittsfield
Public 0.4 11
Taconic High
Pittsfield
Public 1.5 824 -1.0%
Hillcrest Educational Foundation
Pittsfield
Private 4.1 328 +113.0%
Wahconah Regional High
Dalton
Public 5.8 450 -12.3%
Lenox Memorial High
Lenox
Public 6.6 250 +0.4%
Lee Middle/High School
Lee
Public 9.7 207 -9.2%
Berkshire Waldorf High School
Great Barrington
Private 11.7 37
Hoosac Valley High School
Cheshire
Public 12.2 217 -8.4%

For Parents

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