Shelton High School

Shelton · WA · Shelton School District · Public

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📚AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 📖19 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 19 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 4 calculus classes · 11 physics · 4 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 29% by test-taker volume

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

💡

How Shelton High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 14% nationally with 19 AP courses.
  • LocallyWA 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: Garrett Heyns High School, Tumwater High School, Lakes High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

86th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
19
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
71
≈5 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
9
4 calculus · 5 advanced
Lab science classes
15
11 physics · 4 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ 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

Bottom 29% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
27
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
1.9
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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
15.0%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
50.5%
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.

📊 State assessment · WA Smarter Balanced · grade 10

SBAC grade 10 — met or exceeded standard

School year 2024-25. Levels 3 + 4 combined ("at or above grade level"). Cells suppressed by the state when sample is small.

English Language Arts
53.1%
17.3% exceeded · 196 students tested
Math
16.0%
3.8% exceeded · 59 students tested

Source: WA state DOE Smarter Balanced results. Levels 1–2 = below standard, 3 = met, 4 = exceeded. Headline = level 3 + level 4 combined.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Title I Schoolwide eligible

≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program

58.4%
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)

40-74% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The district can use Title I funds across the whole school under federal Schoolwide Program rules.

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 Washington-Seattle Campus

42%
admit rate
$12,973
in-state tuition/yr · $43,209 out-of-state

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 $14,091/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Washington-Seattle 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
61.0%
Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.
Students absent 15+ days
887
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 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. 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

Student : Counselor
364:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
80
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 350 in 2021 to 308 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-12.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.0%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,455 students:

2025
1,441
2027
1,414
2029
1,387

≈ 68 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 $17,786 per student in district revenue, the 68 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $1,209,448/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
Garrett Heyns High School
Shelton
Public 3.4
Tumwater High School
Tumwater
Public 19.9 1,117 -1.2%
Lakes High School
Lakewood
Public 26.2 1,158 -9.5%
North Mason Senior High School
Belfair
Public 18.1 735 +2.5%
Yelm High School 12
Yelm
Public 30.6 1,693 +4.7%
Steilacoom High
Steilacoom
Public 26.0 968 -0.3%
Central Kitsap High School
SILVERDALE
Public 34.9 1,564 -4.5%
Decatur High School
FEDERAL WAY
Public 35.8 1,352 +5.1%

For Parents

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