Westgate Community School

THORNTON · CO · Adams 12 Five Star Schools · Public charter · K-12 combined


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
  • 🔢 1 calculus classes
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 22% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 24% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 75% (Bottom 21% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

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

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How Westgate Community School compares for families

What families should know about Westgate Community School.

  • LocallyCO students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: North Valley School for Young Adults, Justice High Charter School, Performing Arts School on Broadway and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

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Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Limited — narrow advanced curriculum

Bottom 22% of US high schools

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
Advanced math classes
2
1 calculus · 1 advanced
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 24% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
20
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
20.4
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?

Bottom 21% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
75%
Range: 50–100%
4-year cohort size
15
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)
37.5%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
28.6%
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

Title I Targeted Assistance eligible

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

38.3%
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 Colorado Boulder

83%
admit rate
$15,666
in-state tuition/yr · $44,918 out-of-state
1230–1420
SAT 25–75 · ACT 28–33

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 $25,346/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full University of Colorado Boulder 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
9.8%
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
53
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.

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

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
270:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
2.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
33
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

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -0.4%/year, projecting from 2024's 540 students:

2025
538
2027
534
2029
530

≈ 10 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 $14,638 per student in district revenue, the 10 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $146,380/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
North Valley School for Young Adults
THORNTON
Public 4.6 102 +13.3%
Justice High Charter School
LAFAYETTE
Public · charter 7.0 98 +19.5%
Performing Arts School on Broadway
DENVER
Public 6.5 104 +57.6%
RiseUp Community School
DENVER
Public · charter 11.7 100 +3.1%
North High School Engagement Center
DENVER
Public 11.6 103 +7.3%
Victory Preparatory Academy High State Charter School
COMMERCE CITY
Public · charter 9.4 118 +5.4%
Robert F. Smith STEAM Academy
DENVER
Public 11.6 89 +14.1%
Two Roads Charter School
ARVADA
Public · charter 8.6 125 +7.8%

For Parents

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