Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Ligonier Valley HS → Mount Pleasant Area HS → River Valley HS → Greensburg-Salem HS → Greater Latrobe SHS → Southmoreland SHS → Westmont Hilltop JSHS → Yough SHS →A parent's read
- 97% graduate on time. Nearly every student who starts 9th grade here finishes in four years — the strongest baseline signal a school can post.
- Course rigor in the top 18% of US high schools. 10 AP courses plus advanced math and lab-science depth — measured against every high school in the country, not just the neighborhood.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
At a glance
- 10 AP courses offered — Elite
- Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- Gifted & talented program
- 2 calculus classes · 5 physics · 13 chemistry
- AP rigor: 82nd 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.
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How Derry Area SHS compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 10 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyPA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Ligonier Valley HS, Mount Pleasant Area HS, River Valley HS 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
82nd 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.
Federal Title I context
High-poverty school
Title I Schoolwide eligible
≥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
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: 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.
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 +0.3%/year, projecting from 2024's 598 students:
An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.
Revenue upside
At $20,959 per student in district revenue, the 10 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $209,590/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.
| School | Type | Miles | HS enrollment | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ligonier Valley HS Ligonier |
Public | 7.0 | 434 | -7.9% |
| Mount Pleasant Area HS Mount Pleasant |
Public | 16.1 | 597 | -2.0% |
| River Valley HS Blairsville |
Public | 9.0 | 427 | +2.9% |
| Greensburg-Salem HS Greensburg |
Public | 12.1 | 784 | -6.6% |
| Greater Latrobe SHS Latrobe |
Public | 5.4 | 1,115 | -5.3% |
| Southmoreland SHS Alverton |
Public | 20.3 | 566 | -1.0% |
| Westmont Hilltop JSHS Johnstown |
Public | 17.7 | 473 | -6.5% |
| Yough SHS Herminie |
Public | 22.9 | 592 | +2.1% |
At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantDerry Area SHS is a public high school in Derry, PA, enrolling 598 students in grades 9-12 in 2024.
Enrollment is up 8% from 2021 to 2024.
It offers 10 AP courses, a course-rigor profile stronger than 82% of U.S. high schools, and has a dual-enrollment program (federal Civil Rights Data Collection).
70 students took the SAT or ACT in the most recent federal count, a participation level above 51% of U.S. high schools.
Its federal four-year graduation rate was about 97% in the latest EDFacts release.
It has about 299 students per school counselor.
27% of its students were chronically absent in 2020.
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 Derry Area SHS offer? Derry Area SHS offers 10 AP courses, a course-rigor profile stronger than 82% of U.S. high schools, and has a dual-enrollment program (federal Civil Rights Data Collection).
What is Derry Area SHS's graduation rate? Derry Area SHS's federal four-year graduation rate was about 97% in the latest EDFacts release.
How many students attend Derry Area SHS? Derry Area SHS is a public high school in Derry, PA, enrolling 598 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