SCHOOL BACKGROUND

Central High School is a coeducational college preparatory school in the School District of Philadelphia. Chartered in 1836, Central is America's 2nd oldest public high school. Over 98% of Central alumni graduate from a 4-year college or university. Graduates have excelled in every field, with famous actors, scientists, doctors, writers, painters, politicians, athletes, Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winners among them.

CURRICULUM

• Students follow a college preparatory curriculum. Size coupled with a singular mission results in a rich variety of options. Offerings include Honors classes, 26 Advanced Placement courses, an International Baccalaureate program and a dual enrollment partnership with LaSalle University.
Strong Music and Art departments serve many talented students.
• Compulsory graduation credits include 4 units of English, 3 each of Social Studies, Science, Math, and 2 of a Foreign Language.
• Our Mentally Gifted Program services over 40% of all students.

PSSA, SAT &
ADVANCED PLACEMENT SCORES

• All Central students take the SAT. The 2007 mean SAT scores were; Verbal 536, Math 562, and Writing 523. Students who took both SAT I and SAT II's achieved a composite mean of 1856 (Verbal 618, Math 641, Writing 597).
• 389 candidates took 650 Advanced Placement exams in 25 subject areas, with 59% scoring 3 or higher (score most colleges require for credit).
• The most recent PSSA scores were 97% advanced/proficient in Math, 98% in Reading, and 99% in Writing.
• All scores reflect a large number of students who speak English as a second language.

SCHOLARSHIPS

• Central's most recent graduating class (the 266th) earned over 20 million dollars in scholarships, prizes and awards.

• Merit Scholarships - Over the last decade, Central students have achieved the following:

- National Merit Scholarship Program - 85 Semifinalists, 205
Commended Students;
- National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding
Negro Students - 74 Semifinalists, 132 Commended Students;
- National Hispanic Scholar Awards Program - 21 Finalists.

For a list of scholarships click HERE

OUR FOCUS:

Serving the community of Philadelphia for more than 150 years, Central High stands as a monument to perhaps the most significant enterprise of humankind. This enterprise is based on the proposition that all the citizens of a nation shall be educated to the fullest extent of their ability and aspiration so that a free and open society may be sustained for all times. Central High School was, indeed, the first institution in the United States dedicated to offering advanced education at public expense to students simply because they were citizens and also demonstrated a love and desire of learning.

Such an education should certainly be grounded in the rich heritage of knowledge on which our culture is based. But also, this education must center on the process of human interaction which makes an open society possible. This means that our students must develop habits of personal responsibility while collaborating with one another in solving problems, overcoming obstacles, and shaping their lives in mutual support. As a faculty we are dedicated to the role of enabler in the education of our students not regarding them as empty vessels into which something called knowledge is poured, but as partners in the lifetime enterprise of learning what there is to know, and how to act humanly with what they know. We regard ourselves as guides and mentors in this often perplexing undertaking. We seek always to create an academic community in which learning is the common bond and where differences of personal conviction, cultural background, and ethnic origin are not regarded as problems, but as conditions to be held in reverence, indeed, as the very stuff of learning itself.

For more information about academics, visit the respective department websites.

For a Profile Fact Sheet of Central High School 2007 click HERE.