Creative and Performing Arts
Philadelphia · PA · Philadelphia City SD · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
South Philadelphia HS → Philadelphia Performing Arts CS → Philadelphia Electrical & Technology CHS → Preparatory CS of Mathematics Science Tech and Careers → Universal Audenried CS → Franklin Benjamin HS → Freire CS → Mastbaum Jules E Area Vocational-Technical School →At a glance
- 9 AP courses offered — Elite
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- Gifted & talented program
- 1 calculus classes · 1 physics · 10 chemistry
- AP rigor: 76th percentile nationally
- SAT/ACT participation: 51st percentile by test-taker volume
- 4-yr grad rate: 97% in 2019 (90th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Creative and Performing Arts compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 24% nationally with 9 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyPA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: South Philadelphia HS, Philadelphia Performing Arts CS, Philadelphia Electrical & Technology CHS and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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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
76th percentile nationally
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 · 2020-2151st 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?
90th percentile nationally
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.
Your state's public flagship
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
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 $32,875/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.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2021 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 -5.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 643 students:
≈ 168 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 $30,722 per student in district revenue, the 168 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $5,161,296/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Philadelphia HS Philadelphia |
Public | 1.1 | 654 | +3.8% |
| Philadelphia Performing Arts CS Philadelphia |
Public · charter | 1.4 | 647 | +4.9% |
| Philadelphia Electrical & Technology CHS Philadelphia |
Public · charter | 1.2 | 629 | +1.0% |
| Preparatory CS of Mathematics Science Tech and Careers Philadelphia |
Public · charter | 1.4 | 589 | -3.6% |
| Universal Audenried CS Philadelphia |
Public · charter | 1.8 | 588 | +8.3% |
| Franklin Benjamin HS Philadelphia |
Public | 1.7 | 570 | +8.0% |
| Freire CS Philadelphia |
Public · charter | 1.0 | 539 | +7.4% |
| Mastbaum Jules E Area Vocational-Technical School Philadelphia |
Public | 4.6 | 651 | +1.4% |