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SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY

MERCEDES · TX · SOUTH TEXAS ISD · Public

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📚AP rigor: 76th percentile nationally 📖22 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 22 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 13 calculus classes · 23 physics · 18 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 76th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 71th percentile by test-taker volume

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

💡

How SOUTH TEXAS ISD SCIENCE ACADEMY compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 24% nationally with 22 AP courses.
  • LocallyTX students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: SOUTH TEXAS ISD HEALTH PROFESSIONS, MERCEDES H S, LA FERIA EARLY COLLEGE H S 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

76th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
22
Subject breadth not reported
Advanced math classes
27
13 calculus · 14 advanced
Lab science classes
41
23 physics · 18 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

71th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
162
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
19.3
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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
0.0%
Strong attendance culture among teachers.

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

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

54.8%
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)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

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
17.0%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
143
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 strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. 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
3.7
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
59
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 148 in 2021 to 178 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+20.3%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +3.2%/year, projecting from 2024's 840 students:

2025
867
2027
924
2029
984

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

Revenue upside

At $18,619 per student in district revenue, the 144 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $2,681,136/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.

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
SOUTH TEXAS ISD HEALTH PROFESSIONS
MERCEDES
Public 0.1 781 +4.7%
MERCEDES H S
MERCEDES
Public 2.3 903 -10.3%
LA FERIA EARLY COLLEGE H S
LA FERIA
Public 6.8 901 +1.0%
PROGRESO H S
PROGRESO
Public 4.2 431 -6.7%
EDCOUCH-ELSA H S
ELSA
Public 10.0 1,309 +1.9%
MERCEDES EARLY COLLEGE ACADEMY
MERCEDES
Public 1.4 355 -7.6%
IDEA WESLACO PIKE COLLEGE PREPARATORY
WESLACO
Public · charter 2.6 364 -3.2%
MERCEDES DAEP
MERCEDES
Public 2.8

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