Palmdale Aerospace Academy
Palmdale · CA · Palmdale Aerospace Academy District · Public charter · K-12 combined
Similar nearby schools
Most similar nearby schools
Antelope Valley Learning Academy → Desert Sands Charter → Littlerock High → SOAR High (Students On Academic Rise) → Antelope Valley High → Palmdale High → R. Rex Parris High → Desert Winds Continuation High →🧭 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. 21 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
- 📚 21 AP courses offered — Elite
- ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
- 🔢 3 calculus classes · 6 chemistry
- 🎓 AP rigor: 82nd percentile nationally
- 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 14% by test-taker volume
- 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 97% (90th percentile nationally)
Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.
How Palmdale Aerospace Academy compares for families
Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.
- ▸ StatewideAP rigor in the top 18% nationally with 21 AP courses.
- ▸ LocallyCA trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−4 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
- ▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Antelope Valley Learning Academy, Desert Sands Charter, Littlerock High 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
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 · 2020-21Bottom 14% 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.
🏛️ 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.
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 -0.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 2,259 students:
≈ 104 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 $14,868 per student in district revenue, the 104 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $1,546,272/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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antelope Valley Learning Academy Palmdale |
Public · charter | 2.0 | 898 | -3.9% |
| Desert Sands Charter Lancaster |
Public · charter | 9.1 | 727 | +3.1% |
| Littlerock High Littlerock |
Public | 7.5 | 1,507 | -4.9% |
| SOAR High (Students On Academic Rise) Lancaster |
Public | 9.7 | 670 | +44.4% |
| Antelope Valley High Lancaster |
Public | 9.0 | 1,498 | +2.7% |
| Palmdale High Palmdale |
Public | 1.2 | 2,208 | -11.9% |
| R. Rex Parris High Palmdale |
Public | 3.0 | 469 | -26.1% |
| Desert Winds Continuation High Lancaster |
Public | 9.0 | 605 | -15.3% |