West Valley High School

Fairbanks · AK · Fairbanks North Star Borough School District · Public

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📚AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally 📖23 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 23 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 5 calculus classes · 6 physics · 11 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 86th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 28% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 87% (Bottom 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

💡

How West Valley High School compares for families

Standout academic depth by national standards.

  • StatewideAP rigor in the top 14% nationally with 23 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: CyberLynx Correspondence Program, Wasilla High School, Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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🎓 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
23
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
127
≈16 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
18
5 calculus · 13 advanced
Lab science classes
17
6 physics · 11 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

Bottom 28% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
26
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
3.3
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 39% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
87%
Range: 85–89%
4-year cohort size
188
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)
12.3%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
38.6%
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%)

21.1%
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
18.5%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
145
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
196:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
4.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
49
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 184 in 2021 to 154 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-16.3%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -4.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 782 students:

2025
748
2027
683
2029
625

≈ 157 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 $20,198 per student in district revenue, the 157 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $3,171,086/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
CyberLynx Correspondence Program
Nenana
Public 42.3 781 +55.3%
Wasilla High School
Wasilla
Public 230.9 816 -0.6%
Mat-Su Career & Tech Ed High School
Wasilla
Public 229.2 705 -7.7%
Palmer High School
Palmer
Public 228.0 616 -17.0%
Colony High School
Palmer
Public 228.2 1,046 -8.8%
Houston High School
Big Lake
Public 233.3 337 -8.2%
Whaley School
Anchorage
Public 259.8 253 -8.7%
Joe Redington Senior Jr/Sr High School
Wasilla
Public 238.8 231 -19.5%

For Parents

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