Highland High

SALT LAKE CITY · UT · Salt Lake District · Public


📚AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally 📖20 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 20 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 8 physics · 14 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 90th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 82nd percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 86% (Bottom 36% 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 Highland High compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 10% nationally with 20 AP courses.
  • LocallyUT students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+8 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: East High, Olympus High, Skyline High and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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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

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
20
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
552
≈28 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
9
3 calculus · 6 advanced
Lab science classes
22
8 physics · 14 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment 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

82nd percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
264
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
13.4
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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 36% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
86%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
425
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

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

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
11.0%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
2.4%
Strong attendance culture among teachers.

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%)

29.1%
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)

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

87%
admit rate
$9,620
in-state tuition/yr · $30,860 out-of-state
1180–1398
SAT 25–75 · ACT 22–29

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.

See the full University of Utah 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
14.3%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
283
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 strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
395:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
85
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 398 in 2021 to 505 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+26.9%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +1.1%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,973 students:

2025
1,995
2027
2,040
2029
2,087

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue upside

At $14,328 per student in district revenue, the 114 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,633,392/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.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
East High
SALT LAKE CITY
Public 2.0 1,764 -7.1%
Olympus High
SALT LAKE CITY
Public 2.9 2,151 +1.4%
Skyline High
SALT LAKE CITY
Public 3.2 2,177 +1.0%
West High
SALT LAKE CITY
Public 4.6 2,309 -8.2%
Hillcrest High
MIDVALE
Public 7.4 2,413 +10.3%
Cottonwood High
SALT LAKE CITY
Public 5.3 1,444 -11.1%
Jordan High
SANDY
Public 10.6 1,820 -3.5%
Brighton High
Salt Lake City
Public 7.8 2,435 +8.7%

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