1
Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
2,760
High
DISTRICT 1,228 · STATE 1,035
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PALM BEACH·NCES 120150004121
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
8499 FOREST HILL BLVD, WELLINGTON, FL 33411 · (561) 304-1000 · Palm Beach County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL2,760 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 50% of Florida public high schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Florida public high schools
Student : Teacher
19.4:1
142 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 21.3:1 · STATE 23.5:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
37%
1,022 students
DISTRICT 49% · STATE 50%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 669 | 24% |
| Grade 10 | 676 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 712 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 703 | 25% |
Student demographics
70%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 70% · STATE 70% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
FAST / B.E.S.T. 2024-25 . % at Level 3 or AboveEnglish Language Arts
56.5%
FL avg 56.7% . +3.0pp since 2023
Math
37.0%
FL avg 58.9% . +10.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the FAST / B.E.S.T., Florida's statewide test, about 57 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 37 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Florida schools, those numbers are about 57 and 59. Reading and writing scores are up about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
FAST / B.E.S.T. results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 56.5% | 37.0% |
| 2023-24 | 53.5% | 27.0% |
% at Level 3 or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: FAST / B.E.S.T.. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
54.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
62.6%
based on FL schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 63% typical for Florida schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Florida's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL's state test result (54.4% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL this school | 2,760 | 37.0% | 54.4% |
| MONARCH HIGH SCHOOL COCONUT CREEK | 2,213 | 34.3% | 56.8% |
| DR. JOAQUIN GARCIA HIGH SCHOOL LAKE WORTH | 2,541 | 37.7% | 58.5% |
| WHARTON HIGH SCHOOL TAMPA | 2,130 | 40.5% | 43.8% |
| DR. PHILLIPS HIGH ORLANDO | 2,964 | 39.2% | 47.5% |
| APOPKA HIGH APOPKA | 3,446 | 37.9% | 50.4% |
Matched among Florida high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Florida | In Palm Beach County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 54.4% | #248 of 555 | #15 of 32 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 37.0% | #326 of 549 ▲ 45 | #21 of 32 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 56.5% | #265 of 559 ▼ 15 | #17 of 32 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 2,760 | #40 of 830 | #6 of 48 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.4:1 | #133 of 575 | #18 of 32 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 70.3% | #41 of 594 | #3 of 32 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.0% | #397 of 630 | #23 of 38 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.0% | #153 of 289 | #7 of 18 |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
2,760
-135 (-5%) vs 2020
-4% since 2010-11, when it was 2,868
Student : Teacher
19.4:1
was 19.3:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 2,760 | 142 | 19.4:1 | 37% (1,022) |
| 2023-24 | 2,841 | 150 | 18.9:1 | 39% (1,111) |
| 2022-23 | 2,980 | 139.8 | 21.3:1 | 40% (1,179) |
| 2020-21 | 2,895 | 150 | 19.3:1 | 55% (1,605) |
| 2017-18 | 3,033 | 153 | 19.8:1 | 45% (1,368) |
| 2015-16 | 3,010 | 156 | 19.3:1 | 43% (1,300) |
| 2010-11 | 2,868 | 147 | 19.5:1 | 26% (741) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL.
About PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL is a high school located in WELLINGTON, Florida, in Palm Beach County. The school had 2,760 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2024-25. An average school in this group (high schools in Florida) has about 1,035 students.
District-wide, PALM BEACH has 233 schools and 191,505 students.
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL's enrollment has no majority group, and Hispanic students are the largest at 40%. It is also 26% Black, 26% White, 5% Asian, and 3% multiracial. Palm Beach County's residents are about 24% Hispanic, 16 points below the school's share. By the diversity index, PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL comes in at 70%.
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL counts 142 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 19.4 students for each one. Among high schools in Florida, the typical ratio is 23.5:1. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 37%.
Measured against Florida public high schools, PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL receives a B-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 62.6% for PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL. The school posts 54.4%, 8.2 points below the prediction.
Palm Beach County has about 1,533,806 residents, and median household income is about $83,581, about 41% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 8%. Federal data list 245 public schools in Palm Beach County, with a combined enrollment of about 192,831.
Of nearby public schools, EVERGLADES ELEMENTARY is the closest, at about 1.3 miles. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Of 9 schools in the immediate area with test results, PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL ranks 6th on average proficiency.
By NCES locale, the school is Suburb: Large, or in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The number of students dropped from 2,895 to 2,760 over 4 years.
Discussion on this page can cover sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Palm Beach County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,533,806
Census ACS
Median income
$83,581
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
41%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
245
192,831 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in PALM BEACH
- JOHN I. LEONARD HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,262 students
- JUPITER HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,122 students
- PARK VISTA COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,881 students
- BOCA RATON COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,819 students
- PALM BEACH LAKES HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,809 students
- SPANISH RIVER COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,730 students
Other schools in WELLINGTON
- WELLINGTON HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,689 students
- BINKS FOREST ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 1,246 students
- WELLINGTON LANDINGS MIDDLEMiddle · 1,227 students
- EMERALD COVE MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 1,221 students
- POLO PARK MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 1,122 students
- WELLINGTON ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 897 students
Nearby schools
- EVERGLADES ELEMENTARY1.3 mi · 818
- OKEEHEELEE MIDDLE SCHOOL1.5 mi · 1,401
- CHOLEE LAKE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.8 mi · 976
- EQUESTRIAN TRAILS ELEMENTARY1.8 mi · 834
- EMERALD COVE MIDDLE SCHOOL1.8 mi · 1,221
- RENAISSANCE CHARTER SCHOOL AT WELLINGTON2.1 mi · 682
Frequently asked questions
About PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLHow large is PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL?
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL enrolls approximately 2,760 students in grades 09-12.
Is PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL an elementary, middle, or high school?
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL is a high school covering grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL?
Approximately 19.4:1 students per teacher at PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL.
What is the racial breakdown of students at PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL?
At PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 26% White, 40% Hispanic, 26% Black, 5% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL public or private?
PALM BEACH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL is a public K-12 school, overseen by PALM BEACH.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.