Murphy High School

Mobile · AL · Mobile County · Public


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 3 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 1 calculus classes · 4 physics · 11 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 54th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 91st percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 94% (69th percentile nationally)

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

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How Murphy High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 54th percentile nationally with 3 AP courses.
  • LocallyAL trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−10 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: WP Davidson High School, Saraland High School, Theodore High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

54th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
3
Subject breadth not reported
Students taking AP courses
99
≈8 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
38
1 calculus · 37 advanced
Lab science classes
15
4 physics · 11 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment 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

91st percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
444
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
36.6
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?

69th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
94%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
393
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)
0%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
78.4%
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

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

69.6%
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 Alabama

76%
admit rate
$12,180
in-state tuition/yr · $34,172 out-of-state
1170–1400
SAT 25–75 · ACT 24–31

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 $22,420/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full The University of Alabama 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
25.2%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
305
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.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
404:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
84
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 283 in 2021 to 282 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-0.4%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -2.1%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,212 students:

2025
1,187
2027
1,138
2029
1,091

≈ 121 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 $12,871 per student in district revenue, the 121 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $1,557,391/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
WP Davidson High School
Mobile
Public 3.8 1,470 -7.1%
Saraland High School
Saraland
Public 7.9 1,134 +4.0%
Theodore High School
Theodore
Public 11.2 1,218 -2.9%
Mattie T Blount High School
Eight Mile
Public 8.6 1,058 -9.0%
Spanish Fort High School
Spanish Fort
Public 13.8 1,115 -6.8%
John L Leflore Magnet School
Mobile
Public 2.2 582 -4.1%
CF Vigor High School
Prichard
Public 4.2 620 +17.0%
Lillie B Williamson High School
Mobile
Public 1.2 517 +6.2%

For Parents

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