Decatur Central High School
Indianapolis · IN · MSD Decatur Township · Public
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Plainfield High School → Perry Meridian High School → Southport High School → Arsenal Technical High School → Mooresville High School → Whiteland Community High School → Center Grove High School → Ben Davis High School →At a glance
- 11 AP courses offered — Elite
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- Gifted & talented program
- 4 calculus classes · 10 physics · 9 chemistry
- AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
- SAT/ACT participation: 73rd percentile by test-taker volume
- 4-yr grad rate: 89% in 2019 (Bottom 44% 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 Decatur Central High School compares for families
Standout academic depth by national standards.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 11 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyIN students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+8 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Plainfield High School, Perry Meridian High School, Southport High School 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
90th 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 · 2020-2173rd 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 44% 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
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥40% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Schoolwide program
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
Indiana University-Bloomington
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 $16,264/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.
Pay for college in Indiana
Indiana's public scholarships
Indiana's signature aid is income-qualified and front-loaded: families must enroll in 21st Century Scholars back in middle school. The Frank O'Bannon Grant is the open need-based backstop.
Income-qualified promise: sign up in 7th–8th grade, then earn it with a 2.5 GPA and a Core 40 diploma. Covers up to full public-college tuition. (Must enroll in the program in 7th or 8th grade.)
Official program details ↗Indiana's main need-based grant — awarded on FAFSA financial need with no GPA or test gate. (File the FAFSA by April 15; enroll full-time.)
Official program details ↗Eligibility rules change yearly — confirm with the official program before relying on it. Amounts are recent published figures; awards cover tuition/fees, not housing or books unless noted. Verified 2026-10-21.
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 -0.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,974 students:
≈ 44 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 $14,176 per student in district revenue, the 44 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $623,744/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield High School Plainfield |
Public | 5.6 | 1,836 | +1.4% |
| Perry Meridian High School Indianapolis |
Public | 6.3 | 2,447 | +3.1% |
| Southport High School Indianapolis |
Public | 7.1 | 2,419 | +1.7% |
| Arsenal Technical High School Indianapolis |
Public | 9.6 | 2,341 | +10.9% |
| Mooresville High School Mooresville |
Public | 7.3 | 1,372 | -1.4% |
| Whiteland Community High School Whiteland |
Public | 13.8 | 2,135 | +6.1% |
| Center Grove High School Greenwood |
Public | 8.8 | 2,956 | +7.3% |
| Ben Davis High School Indianapolis |
Public | 6.8 | 3,315 | +1.1% |
At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantDecatur Central High School is a public high school in Indianapolis, IN, enrolling 1,974 students in grades 9-12 in 2024.
Enrollment is down 5% from 2021 to 2024.
It offers 11 AP courses, a course-rigor profile stronger than 90% of U.S. high schools, and has a dual-enrollment program (federal Civil Rights Data Collection).
177 students took the SAT or ACT in the most recent federal count, a participation level above 73% of U.S. high schools.
Its federal four-year graduation rate was about 89% in the latest EDFacts release.
It has about 395 students per school counselor.
Sources: National Center for Education Statistics (enrollment), the federal Civil Rights Data Collection and EDFacts, state education agencies where named, and the school's own published documents where named.
Questions families ask
How many AP courses does Decatur Central High School offer? Decatur Central High School offers 11 AP courses, a course-rigor profile stronger than 90% of U.S. high schools, and has a dual-enrollment program (federal Civil Rights Data Collection).
What is Decatur Central High School's graduation rate? Decatur Central High School's federal four-year graduation rate was about 89% in the latest EDFacts release.
How many students attend Decatur Central High School? Decatur Central High School is a public high school in Indianapolis, IN, enrolling 1,974 students in grades 9-12 in 2024.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com). These figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
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Related reading
AP courses · October 2026
Test scores · October 2026