Challenge Academy

Size

Challenge Academy is the 3rd largest of Waco ISD's 4 high schools; its 52 students are 0.4% of district enrollment. The 8 nearest high schools are a median 2.4 miles away and have a median of 178 students, so Challenge Academy is smaller than most of them.

NCES lists it as an alternative school: one that serves students whose needs a regular school may not meet, or that offers a non-traditional program alongside regular schools.

Source: NCES CCD 2024-25 enrollment and school type. Share of district students = this school's students ÷ the district's students. Nearest schools by straight-line distance between NCES EDGE locations.

Grades

Its largest grade is grade 9 with 23 students, and its smallest is grade 11 with 3, against an average of 9 per grade. This year grade 12 has 25% more students than grade 7 (5 against 4). Each grade is a different group of students, so the gap is not a dropout or growth rate.

Source: NCES CCD 2024-25 membership by grade.

Students

Hispanic students are the largest group, at 51.9% of enrollment, a lower share than across Waco ISD (62.5%). Black students are next, at 42.3%.

92.3% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, against 88.1% across Waco ISD and a median of 63.8% for Texas high schools. Families apply for free or reduced-price meals, and eligibility depends on household income.

Source: NCES CCD 2024-25 membership and school lunch program data. District shares weight each school by its enrollment.

Teachers

Challenge Academy has 3.88 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 13.4 students per teacher. At the median Texas high school ratio of 14, a school with 52 students would have about 3.7 teachers, so Challenge Academy has about as many as that.

Source: NCES CCD 2024-25. Expected teachers = this school's students ÷ the median students per teacher of Texas high schools (14).

Location

NCES classifies its location as city, midsize, which means it is inside a principal city of 100,000 to 250,000 people. The nearest other high school is Methodist Children's Home, 0.7 miles away in University of Texas University Charter School. There are 10 high schools within 5 miles and 15 within 10 miles.

Source: NCES EDGE school locations and locale codes, 2024-25. Distances are straight lines.