Pendleton Heights High School
Pendleton · IN · South Madison Com Sch Corp · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Anderson High School → Mt Vernon High School → Greenfield-Central High School → New Palestine High School → Muncie Central High School → Hamilton Southeastern HS → Lawrence Central High School → Lawrence North High School →🧭 A parent's read
- 96% graduate on time. Nearly every student who starts 9th grade here finishes in four years — the strongest baseline signal a school can post.
- Course rigor in the top 18% of US high schools. 13 AP courses plus advanced math and lab-science depth — measured against every high school in the country, not just the neighborhood.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
📋 At a glance
- 📚 13 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🎓 AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 75th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 96% (82nd percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Pendleton Heights High School compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 13 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyIN students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+8 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Anderson High School, Mt Vernon High School, Greenfield-Central 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
82nd percentile nationally
✅ 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 · 2020-2175th percentile by test-taker volume
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?
82nd percentile nationally
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
Mixed-income school
Below Title I eligibility threshold (FRPL < 35%)
25-34% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Below the federal Title I threshold but a meaningful share of the population is income-eligible for free lunch.
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
Indiana University-Bloomington
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 $16,264/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.
Source: IPEDS admissions, tuition & enrollment + College Scorecard net price. Flagship = the state's primary public research university.
💰 Pay for college in Indiana
Indiana's public scholarships
Indiana's signature aid is income-qualified and front-loaded: families must enroll in 21st Century Scholars back in middle school. The Frank O'Bannon Grant is the open need-based backstop.
Income-qualified promise: sign up in 7th–8th grade, then earn it with a 2.5 GPA and a Core 40 diploma. Covers up to full public-college tuition. (Must enroll in the program in 7th or 8th grade.)
Official program details ↗Indiana's main need-based grant — awarded on FAFSA financial need with no GPA or test gate. (File the FAFSA by April 15; enroll full-time.)
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.
Chronic absenteeism
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
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 +1.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,502 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $10,859 per student in district revenue, the 149 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,617,991/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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson High School Anderson |
Public | 5.3 | 1,768 | -3.8% |
| Mt Vernon High School Fortville |
Public | 8.8 | 1,470 | +6.9% |
| Greenfield-Central High School Greenfield |
Public | 14.4 | 1,413 | -4.1% |
| New Palestine High School New Palestine |
Public | 21.0 | 1,246 | +7.2% |
| Muncie Central High School Muncie |
Public | 23.1 | 1,307 | -9.0% |
| Hamilton Southeastern HS Fishers |
Public | 9.8 | 3,504 | +2.2% |
| Lawrence Central High School Indianapolis |
Public | 18.9 | 2,512 | +11.9% |
| Lawrence North High School Indianapolis |
Public | 17.3 | 2,791 | -1.5% |