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Southbridge High School

Southbridge · MA · Southbridge · Public

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📚AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally 📖12 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 12 AP courses offered — Elite
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 3 physics · 5 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 13% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 62% (Bottom 12% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How Southbridge High School compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 12 AP courses.
  • LocallyMA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+14 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Viewpoint Christian Academy, Southbridge Academy, Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School 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

82th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
12
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Advanced math classes
15
3 calculus · 12 advanced
Lab science classes
8
3 physics · 5 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

Bottom 13% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
9
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
2.1
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 12% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
62%
Range: 60–64%
4-year cohort size
119
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)
73.9%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
32.6%
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
65.9%
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
276
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
105:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
34
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 75 in 2021 to 96 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+28.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 419 students:

2025
411
2027
396
2029
382

≈ 37 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 $24,471 per student in district revenue, the 37 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $905,427/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
Viewpoint Christian Academy
Southbridge
Private 0.7 67
Southbridge Academy
Southbridge
Public 1.9 21
Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School
Charlton
Public 4.4 1,188 +1.3%
Shepherd Hill Regional High
Dudley
Public 4.9 938 +1.5%
Bartlett High School
Webster
Public 7.5 404 +2.3%
Oxford High
Oxford
Public 7.8 405 +2.5%
Tantasqua Regional Sr High
Fiskdale
Public 8.4 625 -7.7%
Tantasqua Regional Vocational
Fiskdale
Public 8.4 542 +4.0%

For Parents

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