Westerly High School

Westerly · RI · Westerly · Public

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📖18 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 18 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 3 calculus classes · 5 physics · 10 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 73th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 86th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 92% (60th percentile nationally)

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

💡

How Westerly High School compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 73th percentile nationally with 18 AP courses.
  • LocallyRI 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: Chariho High School, South Kingstown High, Chariho Career and Tech Center 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

73th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
18
Subject breadth not reported
Students taking AP courses
289
≈44 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
9
3 calculus · 6 advanced
Lab science classes
15
5 physics · 10 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

86th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
331
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
50.9
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?

60th percentile nationally

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
92%
Range: 90–94%
4-year cohort size
181
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)
2.5%
Strong: experienced corps. New teachers rotate through but most have ≥3 years in.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
0.0%
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

Title I Targeted Assistance eligible

35-39% FRPL — qualifies for Title I Targeted Assistance

38.5%
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)

35-39% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school can receive Title I funds targeted to identified students (not schoolwide).

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 Rhode Island

77%
admit rate
$16,942
in-state tuition/yr · $37,146 out-of-state
1030–1270
SAT 25–75 · ACT 26–31

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 $21,440/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Rhode Island 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
11.5%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
75
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
217:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
3.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
72
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 181 in 2021 to 149 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-17.7%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -3.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 650 students:

2025
628
2027
587
2029
548

≈ 102 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 $27,425 per student in district revenue, the 102 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $2,797,350/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
Chariho High School
Wood River Junction
Public 8.2 991 -8.6%
South Kingstown High
Wakefield
Public 17.5 688 -20.1%
Chariho Career and Tech Center
Wood River Junction
Public 8.1
Exeter-West Greenwich Regional
West Greenwich
Public 18.5 452 -1.3%
East Greenwich High
East Greenwich
Public 25.1 742 -4.1%
Rogers High School
Newport
Public 26.6 599 -6.3%
Narragansett High School
Narragansett
Public 18.5 372 -23.9%
Middletown High School
Middletown
Public 29.3 523 -15.6%

For Parents

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