Special Education Center

Columbus · OH · Columbus City Schools District · Public · K-12 combined

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 14% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 1% by test-taker volume

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

💡

How Special Education Center compares for families

What families should know about Special Education Center.

  • LocallyOH students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Capital High School, Columbus Scioto 6-12, Columbus Downtown High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Get an email when Special Education Center's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 1% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
1
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
1.5
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.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
33.3%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
100.0%
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.

🏛️ Your state's public flagship

Ohio State University-Main Campus

51%
admit rate
$13,244
in-state tuition/yr · $40,022 out-of-state
1330–1480
SAT 25–75 · ACT 29–32

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 $17,339/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full Ohio State University-Main Campus 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
1.1%
Below 10% — strong attendance culture. Chronic absence is a leading indicator of dropout and disengagement; a low rate signals families staying connected to the school.
Students absent 15+ days
2
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: A low chronic-absence rate is the cleanest school-level signal of strong family connection, classroom culture, and student engagement — all upstream drivers of enrollment stability. 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.

Enrollment trend & projection

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +18.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 178 students:

2025
212
2027
299
2029
423

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

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
Capital High School
Columbus
Public · charter 4.1 76 -35.0%
Columbus Scioto 6-12
Columbus
Public 4.4 55 +3.8%
Columbus Downtown High School
Columbus
Public 1.9 48
Central High School
Columbus
Public · charter 3.4 93 +16.2%
Ohio School for the Deaf
Columbus
Public 7.8 77 +5.5%
Fort Hayes Career Center
Columbus
Public 1.9 102 +4.1%
Ohio State School for the Blind
Columbus
Public 8.2 59 +5.4%
Capital City Career Prep High School
Columbus
Public · charter 4.8 93 -25.0%

For Parents

Researching colleges for your kid at Special Education Center?

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