Whitefish High School

Whitefish · MT · Whitefish H S · Public


📖8 AP courses

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 8 AP courses offered — Elite
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • 🔢 2 calculus classes · 1 physics · 4 chemistry
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 73rd percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 67th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 92% (60th percentile nationally)

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

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How Whitefish High School compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 73rd percentile nationally with 8 AP courses.
  • LocallyMT students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+7 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Browning High School, Bigfork High School, Polson High School 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

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

73rd percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
8
Math ✓ · Science ✓
Students taking AP courses
139
≈22 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
5
2 calculus · 3 advanced
Lab science classes
5
1 physics · 4 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

67th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
137
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
22.2
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
138
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)
14.3%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
31.0%
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.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Mixed-income school

Below Title I eligibility threshold (FRPL < 35%)

25.1%
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)

25-34% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Below the federal Title I threshold but a meaningful share of the population is income-eligible for free lunch.

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

The University of Montana

96%
admit rate
$8,552
in-state tuition/yr · $33,671 out-of-state
23–28
ACT 25–75

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 $16,784/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full The University of Montana 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
14.2%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
88
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.

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

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
206:1
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
42
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 131 in 2021 to 122 in 2024 — over 3 years.
-6.9%

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

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +3.0%/year, projecting from 2024's 618 students:

2025
636
2027
675
2029
715

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

Revenue upside

At $16,408 per student in district revenue, the 97 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $1,591,576/year in additional funding.

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
Browning High School
Browning
Public 59.8 633 +14.5%
Bigfork High School
Bigfork
Public 26.3 333 -2.9%
Polson High School
Polson
Public 50.9 517 +1.2%
Ronan High School
Ronan
Public 61.4 376 +1.3%
Frenchtown High School
Frenchtown
Public 95.9 364 -25.7%
Stevensville High School
Stevensville
Public 131.9 347 -9.4%
Beaverhead Co High School
Dillon
Public 234.6 339 +4.3%
Butte High School
Butte
Public 185.9 1,266 -2.2%

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