Thomas Academy

Lake Waccamaw · NC · Thomas Academy · Public charter · K-12 combined

Public 🏛 Thomas Academy →

Similar nearby schools

Most similar nearby schools

East Columbus Junior-Senior High → Whiteville High → North Whiteville Academy → Carolina Adventist Academy → East Bladen High → South Columbus High → Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy → West Columbus High →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features

✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)

Academic signals

🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 22% of US high schools
📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 16% by test-taker volume
🎓 4-yr grad rate: 69% (Bottom 14% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

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How Thomas Academy compares for families

What families should know about Thomas Academy.

▸ LocallyNC sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: East Columbus Junior-Senior High, Whiteville High, North Whiteville Academy and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 16% by test-taker volume

SAT/ACT test-takers

11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test

Test-taking intensity

32.4

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 14% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

4-year graduation rate

69%

Range: 60–79%

4-year cohort size

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)

4.8%

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.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days

35.5%

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

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

31:1

Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.

Counselor FTE

2.0

Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.

Teacher FTE

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

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -18.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 62 students:

2025

2027

2029

A small or specialty program — naive trend math doesn't capture the school's full picture. Read the trend as directional, not predictive.

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

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
East Columbus Junior-Senior High Lake Waccamaw	Public	1.7	383	-2.0%
Whiteville High Whiteville	Public	10.4	639	-4.1%
North Whiteville Academy Whiteville	Public	10.6	8	—
Carolina Adventist Academy Whiteville	Private	11.9	10	—
East Bladen High Elizabethtown	Public	17.8	525	-6.9%
South Columbus High Tabor City	Public	19.4	669	-1.8%
Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy Elizabethtown	Public · charter	21.4	126	+68.0%
West Columbus High Cerro Gordo	Public	22.8	459	+17.4%