Valdosta High School

Valdosta · GA · Valdosta City · Public


📚AP rigor: Top 3.7% nationally 📖26 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 26 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 19 calculus classes · 5 physics · 32 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Top 3.7% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 65th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 90% (Bottom 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

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How Valdosta High School 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 26 AP courses.
  • LocallyGA 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: Lowndes High School, Tift County High School, Cook 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

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

Top 3.7% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
26
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
187
≈8 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
24
19 calculus · 5 advanced
Lab science classes
37
5 physics · 32 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

65th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
124
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
5.0
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 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
90%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
472
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)
5.6%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
17.6%
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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

84.2%
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)

≥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.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

University of Georgia

37%
admit rate
$11,450
in-state tuition/yr · $31,688 out-of-state
1160–1390
SAT 25–75 · ACT 25–32

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 $13,936/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Georgia 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 Georgia

Georgia's public scholarships

Georgia's lottery-funded HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships are pure merit — no income limit. GPAs are recalculated by the state (GSFC) on core academic courses only.

Merit HOPE Scholarship
A set percentage of in-state public-college tuition
GPA: 3.0 (GSFC core-course GPA) Income: No income limit

Covers a set share of public-college tuition for Georgia grads with a 3.0+ core GPA — no test score or income limit. (Requires 4 rigor credits; maintain a 3.0 in college.)

Official program details ↗
Merit Zell Miller Scholarship
100% of in-state public-college tuition
GPA: 3.7 (GSFC core GPA) — or 3.0 for a named valedictorian/salutatorian Test: SAT 1200 / ACT 25 in a single sitting (waived on the val/sal path) Income: No income limit

Top tier: full public-college tuition for a 3.7 GPA plus a single-sitting SAT 1200 / ACT 25. Named valedictorians and salutatorians qualify at a 3.0 with no test. (The 3.0 val/sal path needs no test score; 3.3 is the separate in-college maintenance GPA.)

Official program details ↗

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.

📝 Georgia Milestones & Graduation

How students score on Georgia's End-of-Course tests.

Georgia Milestones are the state's End-of-Course exams. Below: the share of students reaching Proficient Learner or above — Georgia's college- and career-ready benchmark — on each core high-school subject, plus the 4-year graduation rate.

Algebra
32%
Proficient or above
English (Am. Lit.)
24%
Proficient or above
Biology
29%
Proficient or above
U.S. History
29%
Proficient or above
Graduation Rate
93%
4-year cohort
What does "Proficient or above" mean? →

Georgia Milestones reports four levels: Beginning, Developing, Proficient, and Distinguished Learner. "Proficient or above" combines the top two — students who have demonstrated the knowledge and skills for the next grade or course and are on track for college and career. Georgia's cut scores are rigorous, so statewide proficiency rates often sit below those of other states even for strong schools. Exams are taken at the end of the course.

Source: Georgia Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA), Georgia Milestones EOC & 4-year cohort graduation rate, 2024-25, All Students. Small-group results are masked for privacy.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
25.6%
Elevated above the national average (~16%). Worth understanding — chronic absence compounds into dropout risk, transfer-out risk, and revenue loss.
Students absent 15+ days
630
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
614:1
Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
116
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 474 in 2021 to 531 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+12.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.7%/year, projecting from 2024's 2,457 students:

2025
2,499
2027
2,586
2029
2,676

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

Revenue upside

At $13,288 per student in district revenue, the 219 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $2,910,072/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
Lowndes High School
Valdosta
Public 5.9 3,152 +2.4%
Tift County High School
Tifton
Public 44.0 2,207 -2.8%
Cook High School
Adel
Public 20.3 895 +0.6%
Colquitt County High School
Norman Park
Public 38.8 1,932 +6.3%
Thomas County Central High School
Thomasville
Public 43.4 1,633 +11.5%
Ware County High School
Waycross
Public 55.0 1,633 +0.4%
Wayne County High School
Jesup
Public 93.4 1,576 +10.6%
Berrien High School
Nashville
Public 24.2 850 +0.6%

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