Centennial High School

LAS CRUCES · NM · LAS CRUCES · Public


📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖17 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 17 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 43 physics · 46 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 77th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 86% (Bottom 36% 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 Centennial High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 17 AP courses.
  • LocallyNM trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−9 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: LAS CRUCES HIGH, ORGAN MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL, MAYFIELD HIGH 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

90th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
17
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
406
≈24 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
29
2 calculus · 27 advanced
Lab science classes
89
43 physics · 46 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

77th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
216
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
12.6
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 36% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
86%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
364
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)
27.7%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
12.8%
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

99.9%
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 New Mexico-Main Campus

96%
admit rate
$10,140
in-state tuition/yr · $33,060 out-of-state
900–1160
SAT 25–75 · ACT 19–26

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 $15,489/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of New Mexico-Main Campus 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
12.6%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
216
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
571:1
Well above the US median — a real constraint on individualized college and course planning.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
89
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 368 in 2021 to 357 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-3.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.6%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,713 students:

2025
1,740
2027
1,796
2029
1,853

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

Revenue upside

At $12,701 per student in district revenue, the 140 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,778,140/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
LAS CRUCES HIGH
LAS CRUCES
Public 3.4 1,703 -3.8%
ORGAN MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL
LAS CRUCES
Public 5.4 2,128 +13.6%
MAYFIELD HIGH
LAS CRUCES
Public 5.6 1,327 -9.5%
ARROWHEAD PARK EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL
LAS CRUCES
Public 2.6 549 +67.9%
GADSDEN HIGH
ANTHONY
Public 21.5 1,219 -8.6%
CHAPARRAL HIGH
ANTHONY
Public 26.3 1,067 +4.9%
CARLSBAD HIGH
CARLSBAD
Public 143.1 1,685 +19.9%
SANTA TERESA HIGH
SANTA TERESA
Public 30.7 1,154 -5.3%

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