Ladue Horton Watkins High

ST LOUIS · MO · LADUE · Public


📚AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally 📖23 AP courses 🎓97% 4-yr grad rate

🧭 A parent's read

  • 97% 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. 23 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

Programs & features
  • 📚 23 AP courses offered — Elite
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 9 physics · 13 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 89th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)

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

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💡

How Ladue Horton Watkins High compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 23 AP courses.
  • LocallyMO 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: WEBSTER GROVES HIGH, WEST HIGH, KIRKWOOD SR. HIGH 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

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
23
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
609
≈44 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
15
4 calculus · 11 advanced
Lab science classes
22
9 physics · 13 chemistry
Other rigor signals
No dual-enrollment or gifted program reported

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

89th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
384
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
27.5
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%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
290
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)
9.8%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
64.1%
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

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

11.5%
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 Missouri-Columbia

77%
admit rate
$14,837
in-state tuition/yr · $36,056 out-of-state
1150–1330
SAT 25–75 · ACT 23–29

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 $20,268/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Missouri-Columbia 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
11.1%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
155
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
232:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
6.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
98
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 351 in 2021 to 341 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-2.8%

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 1,395 students:

2025
1,424
2027
1,484
2029
1,547

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

Revenue upside

At $21,323 per student in district revenue, the 152 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $3,241,096/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
WEBSTER GROVES HIGH
ST LOUIS
Public 4.3 1,253 -10.2%
WEST HIGH
BALLWIN
Public 7.5 1,417 +1.7%
KIRKWOOD SR. HIGH
KIRKWOOD
Public 3.6 1,693 -6.4%
CENTRAL HIGH
CHESTERFIELD
Public 6.0 1,281 +5.3%
SOUTH HIGH
MANCHESTER
Public 7.6 1,485 -10.5%
MEHLVILLE HIGH SCHOOL
ST LOUIS
Public 9.9 1,388 -6.3%
NORTH HIGH
ST LOUIS
Public 5.2 990 -8.8%
ROCKWOOD SUMMIT SR. HIGH
FENTON
Public 9.9 1,194 -6.6%

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