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PSJA THOMAS JEFFERSON T-STEM EARLY COLLEGE H S

PHARR · TX · PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD · Public

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📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖15 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 15 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 10 physics · 8 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 36% by test-taker volume

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

💡

How PSJA THOMAS JEFFERSON T-STEM EARLY COLLEGE H S compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 15 AP courses.
  • LocallyTX students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: VANGUARD REMBRANDT, SHARYLAND ADVANCED ACADEMIC ACADEMY, IDEA COLLEGE PREPARATORY PHARR 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

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
15
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
13
2 calculus · 11 advanced
Lab science classes
18
10 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

Bottom 36% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
38
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
6.9
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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
39.7%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
30.0%
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

95.5%
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.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

The University of Texas at Austin

29%
admit rate
$11,688
in-state tuition/yr · $44,908 out-of-state
1230–1490
SAT 25–75 · ACT 27–33

The in-state tuition gap is the flagship's biggest draw — most in-state families pay far less than the out-of-state sticker. Average net price after aid runs about $19,857/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full The University of Texas at Austin profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
6.5%
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
36
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
201:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
2.8
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
44
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 165 in 2021 to 141 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-14.5%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.3%/year, projecting from 2024's 553 students:

2025
546
2027
531
2029
517

≈ 36 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 $14,915 per student in district revenue, the 36 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $536,940/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.

Most similar nearby high schools

The schools most like this one — same type, blended on distance and size — and where their enrollment is heading. These are the schools families here weigh against each other.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
VANGUARD REMBRANDT
PHARR
Public · charter 0.4 500 +0.8%
SHARYLAND ADVANCED ACADEMIC ACADEMY
MISSION
Public 6.7 481 +6.4%
IDEA COLLEGE PREPARATORY PHARR
PHARR
Public · charter 5.6 449 +6.4%
EDINBURG COLLEGIATE H S
EDINBURG
Public 6.6 466 +126.2%
ACHIEVE EARLY COLLEGE H S
MCALLEN
Public 4.9 428 +6.5%
IDEA COLLEGE PREPARATORY SAN JUAN
SAN JUAN
Public · charter 2.6 370 -7.3%
PSJA COLLEGIATE SCHOOL OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS
SAN JUAN
Public 1.1 340 +507.1%
IDEA MCALLEN COLLEGE PREPARATORY
MCALLEN
Public · charter 6.0 421 +5.0%

For Parents

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