Sweetwater High
National City · CA · Sweetwater Union High · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
South Bay Christian Academy → Hawking S.T.E.A.M. Charter → Berean Bible Baptist Academy → San Diego Workforce Innovation High → Mueller Charter (Robert L.) → Altus Schools South Bay → Hilltop Senior High → Chula Vista Senior High →📋 At a glance
- 📚 37 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🔢 6 calculus classes · 12 physics · 48 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 90% (Bottom 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Sweetwater High compares for families
Among the nation's most academically rigorous high schools.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor sits in the top 3.7% of US high schools with 37 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: South Bay Christian Academy, Hawking S.T.E.A.M. Charter, Berean Bible Baptist Academy and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
Follow Sweetwater High
Get an email when Sweetwater High's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.
🎓 Academic rigor
AP + advanced-course offerings
Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth
Top 3.7% of US high schools
✅ 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 · 2020-21Source: 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 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
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
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
≥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.
Counselor capacity
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
Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).
If the recent trend holds…
At its recent rate of -6.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 2,290 students:
≈ 656 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 $17,430 per student in district revenue, the 656 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $11,434,080/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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Bay Christian Academy Chula Vista |
Private | 0.9 | 38 | — |
| Hawking S.T.E.A.M. Charter Chula Vista |
Public · charter | 1.2 | — | — |
| Berean Bible Baptist Academy Chula Vista |
Private | 1.6 | 31 | — |
| San Diego Workforce Innovation High National City |
Public · charter | 2.1 | 2,722 | +10.3% |
| Mueller Charter (Robert L.) Chula Vista |
Public · charter | 2.3 | 544 | -7.8% |
| Altus Schools South Bay Chula Vista |
Public · charter | 2.5 | 337 | +10.5% |
| Hilltop Senior High Chula Vista |
Public | 2.6 | 1,771 | -7.1% |
| Chula Vista Senior High Chula Vista |
Public | 2.8 | 1,864 | -16.3% |