Utah Connections Academy
SALT LAKE CITY · UT · Utah Connections Academy · Public charter · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Granite Connection High → Academy for Math Engineering & Science → American Preparatory Academy - Accelerated School → Vanguard Academy → Salt Lake Center for Science Education → East Hollywood High → Horizonte Instruction & Training Center → Itineris Early College High →📋 At a glance
- 📚 19 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Gifted & talented program
- 🔢 1 calculus classes · 10 physics · 16 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 73th percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 56th percentile by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 53% (Bottom 10% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Utah Connections Academy compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor at the 73th percentile nationally with 19 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyUT students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+8 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Granite Connection High, Academy for Math Engineering & Science, American Preparatory Academy - Accelerated School 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
73th percentile nationally
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 · 2020-2156th 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?
Bottom 10% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate
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
University of Utah
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 $16,200/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.
Chronic absenteeism
Why this matters to enrollment: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →
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 -1.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,052 students:
≈ 75 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 $8,444 per student in district revenue, the 75 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $633,300/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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granite Connection High SALT LAKE CITY |
Public | 2.6 | 490 | +40.0% |
| Academy for Math Engineering & Science SALT LAKE CITY |
Public · charter | 5.6 | 460 | -2.5% |
| American Preparatory Academy - Accelerated School WEST VALLEY CITY |
Public · charter | 5.7 | 453 | -4.2% |
| Vanguard Academy WEST VALLEY CITY |
Public · charter | 3.9 | 375 | +22.5% |
| Salt Lake Center for Science Education SALT LAKE CITY |
Public · charter | 5.6 | 368 | +2.5% |
| East Hollywood High WEST VALLEY CITY |
Public · charter | 5.4 | 318 | +6.7% |
| Horizonte Instruction & Training Center SALT LAKE CITY |
Public | 1.5 | 256 | -28.3% |
| Itineris Early College High WEST JORDAN |
Public · charter | 10.6 | 366 | +0.5% |