WALTON HIGH SCHOOL

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS · FL · WALTON · Public

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📖9 AP courses 🎓97% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 9 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 4 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 71th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 76th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How WALTON HIGH SCHOOL compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 71th percentile nationally with 9 AP courses.
  • LocallyFL 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: EMERALD COAST TECHNICAL COLLEGE, FREEPORT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTH WALTON HIGH SCHOOL 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

71th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
9
Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
232
≈24 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
9
2 calculus · 7 advanced
Lab science classes
5
1 physics · 4 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

76th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
198
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
20.4
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?

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
97%
Range: 95–100%
4-year cohort size
160
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)
22.8%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
32.7%
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

63.3%
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

University of Florida

24%
admit rate
$6,381
in-state tuition/yr · $28,659 out-of-state
1300–1480
SAT 25–75 · ACT 28–33

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 $6,541/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Florida profile → Estimate your odds with your scores →

Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.

💰 Pay for college in Florida

Florida's public scholarships

Florida's Bright Futures pays 75–100% of in-state tuition by tier, based on GPA, test scores, and community-service hours. We built a calculator that checks the exact thresholds for you.

Merit Bright Futures (FAS & FMS)
75%–100% of in-state public-college tuition (by tier)
GPA: 3.0 weighted (Medallion) / 3.5 weighted (Academic Scholar) Test: SAT/ACT + community-service hours (varies by tier) Income: No income limit

Florida's merit scholarship pays 75–100% of in-state tuition by tier. Use our Bright Futures calculator for the exact GPA, test, and service-hour cutoffs. (Use our Bright Futures calculator for exact GPA, test & service thresholds.)

Check eligibility with our calculator →  official program ↗

Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-06-14.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
13.5%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
131
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
499:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
1.9
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
44
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 162 in 2021 to 196 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+21.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +6.7%/year, projecting from 2024's 969 students:

2025
1,034
2027
1,176
2029
1,338

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

Revenue upside

At $14,749 per student in district revenue, the 369 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $5,442,381/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
EMERALD COAST TECHNICAL COLLEGE
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS
Public 0.7
FREEPORT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
FREEPORT
Public 13.7 677 +27.0%
SOUTH WALTON HIGH SCHOOL
SANTA ROSA BEACH
Public 25.3 1,127 -4.7%
NORTH BAY HAVEN CAREER ACADEMY
PANAMA CITY
Public · charter 47.0 865 -4.5%
RUTHERFORD HIGH SCHOOL
PANAMA CITY
Public 50.0 856 +4.4%
DEANE BOZEMAN SCHOOL
PANAMA CITY
Public 35.4 748 +22.2%
COLLEGIATE HIGH SCHOOL AT NORTHWEST FLORIDA STATE COLLEGE
NICEVILLE
Public · charter 25.2 463 +65.4%
DESTIN HIGH SCHOOL
DESTIN
Public · charter 30.8 599 +111.7%

For Parents

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