Western Dubuque High School

Epworth · IA · Western Dubuque Comm School District · Public


🎓99% 4-yr grad rate

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 5 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 1 calculus classes · 16 physics · 7 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 64th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 63rd percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 99% (Top 0.7% 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 Western Dubuque High School compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 64th percentile nationally with 5 AP courses.
  • LocallyIA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+8 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Clear Creek Amana High School, Denison High School, Indianola 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

64th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
5
Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
93
≈10 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
11
1 calculus · 10 advanced
Lab science classes
23
16 physics · 7 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

63rd percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
113
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
12.2
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?

Top 0.7% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
99%
Range: 99–100%
4-year cohort size
224
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)
8.8%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
8.8%
Around the national average. Worth watching.

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

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

19.0%
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)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

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 Iowa

85%
admit rate
$11,283
in-state tuition/yr · $33,371 out-of-state
1130–1320
SAT 25–75 · ACT 22–28

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 $22,531/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Iowa 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
15.0%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
139
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.

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

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
464:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
56
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 214 in 2021 to 209 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-2.3%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 927 students:

2025
922
2027
913
2029
904

≈ 23 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 $13,979 per student in district revenue, the 23 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $321,517/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
Clear Creek Amana High School
Tiffin
Public 63.2 800 +10.8%
Denison High School
Denison
Public 227.2 777 -1.5%
Indianola High School
Indianola
Public 153.2 1,165 +5.4%
Marion High School
Marion
Public 44.1 735 +7.9%
West Delaware High School
Manchester
Public 26.1 436 -10.3%
Liberty High School
North Liberty
Public 58.4 1,286 +12.3%
Keokuk High School
Keokuk
Public 142.2 583 +1.0%
West Senior High School
Iowa City
Public 63.5 1,514 +4.1%

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