South Anchorage High School

Anchorage · AK · Anchorage School District · Public

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📚AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 📖25 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 25 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 4 physics · 12 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 74th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 94% (69th percentile nationally)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How South Anchorage High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 14% nationally with 25 AP courses.
  • LocallyAK sits right at the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math — local school quality will set your kid apart.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Colony High School, Whaley School, Wasilla High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

📬

Follow South Anchorage High School

Get an email when South Anchorage High School's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

86th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
25
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
252
≈20 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
14
5 calculus · 9 advanced
Lab science classes
16
4 physics · 12 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ 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 · 2020-21

74th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
179
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
14.4
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?

69th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
94%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
284
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)
5.5%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
44.5%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

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

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

16.1%
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% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

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 Alaska Fairbanks

$8,736
in-state tuition/yr · $22,320 out-of-state

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 $10,892/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Alaska Fairbanks 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
19.2%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
238
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. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

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

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
248:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
59
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 300 in 2021 to 288 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-4.0%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -1.5%/year, projecting from 2024's 1,239 students:

2025
1,220
2027
1,183
2029
1,147

≈ 92 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 $17,756 per student in district revenue, the 92 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $1,633,552/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.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Colony High School
Palmer
Public 40.3 1,046 -8.8%
Whaley School
Anchorage
Public 6.9 253 -8.7%
Wasilla High School
Wasilla
Public 36.0 816 -0.6%
CyberLynx Correspondence Program
Nenana
Public 240.3 781 +55.3%
Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High School
Wasilla
Public 38.1 705 -7.7%
Steller Secondary School
Anchorage
Public 7.3 160 -3.0%
Polaris K-12 School
Anchorage
Public 4.7 141 +2.9%
Palmer High School
Palmer
Public 41.4 616 -17.0%

For Parents

Researching colleges for your kid at South Anchorage High School?

Get a personalized College Plan Audit — find Reach, Target, and Safety colleges matched to your kid's GPA, test scores, intended major, and your family's budget. Free.

Start the College Plan Audit →

For School Admins looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →