William Penn SHS

York · PA · York City SD · Public


📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 5 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 56th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 52nd percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 67% (Bottom 13% 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 William Penn SHS compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 56th percentile nationally with 5 AP courses.
  • LocallyPA students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+4 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Spring Grove Area HS, South Western SHS, Cedar Cliff HS 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

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

56th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
5
Subject breadth not reported
Students taking AP courses
88
≈5 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings
Advanced math classes
6
0 calculus · 6 advanced
Lab science classes
3
1 physics · 2 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program
✅ 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

52nd percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
75
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
4.5
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.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 13% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
67%
Single-point estimate
4-year cohort size
348
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)
15.7%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
88.0%
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

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

95.7%
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)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

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

Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

54%
admit rate
$20,644
in-state tuition/yr · $41,790 out-of-state
1220–1400
SAT 25–75 · ACT 27–32

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 $32,875/yr. Admission odds depend on your student's GPA and test scores, not which high school they attend.

See the full Pennsylvania 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.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
336:1
Above the ASCA 250:1 target but below the US median (~430:1). Capacity is workable.
Counselor FTE
5.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
87
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 279 in 2021 to 307 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+10.0%

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 1,681 students:

2025
1,732
2027
1,837
2029
1,949

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

Revenue upside

At $25,918 per student in district revenue, the 268 students projected to be gained by 2029 represent ≈ $6,946,024/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
Spring Grove Area HS
Spring Grove
Public 9.5 1,163 -0.1%
South Western SHS
Hanover
Public 16.9 1,380 +8.5%
Cedar Cliff HS
Camp Hill
Public 20.7 1,333 -1.1%
Red Land SHS
Lewisberry
Public 16.4 1,061 -2.7%
Eastern York HS
Wrightsville
Public 10.4 640 -2.1%
Downingtown HS East Campus
Exton
Public 56.8 1,708 +0.4%
Perkiomen Valley HS
Collegeville
Public 69.6 1,616 -8.6%
Quakertown Community HS
Quakertown
Public 80.3 1,570 -7.5%

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