Summary:
Zip code 23225 in Richmond, Virginia, is served by two public high schools—Huguenot High and Richmond High School for the Arts—both part of Richmond City Public Schools and both serving grades 9 through 12 with a combined enrollment of 2,585 students. The two schools serve overwhelmingly low-income populations, with roughly 94% of students at each school eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and they sit in a district ranked 118th out of 131 in Virginia with a 1-star rating.
Huguenot High is the stronger-performing school on nearly every major outcome. It graduates 78.1% of its students, compared to just 56.7% at Richmond High School for the Arts. Its dropout rate is 18.1% versus 32.2% at the arts school, and its chronic absenteeism rate is 22.5%—far lower than Richmond Arts' 40.2%, which means two out of every five arts students miss school chronically. Both schools rank in the bottom 2–5% of Virginia high schools, and both carry 0-star ratings, but Huguenot's graduation rate is 21.4 percentage points higher, its dropout rate is 14.1 points lower, and its absenteeism rate is 17.7 points lower.
Notably, Richmond High School for the Arts spends slightly more per student ($9,953 vs. $9,662) and has smaller classes (9.5 vs. 13.3 students per teacher), yet its outcomes are substantially worse, showing that smaller class sizes alone are not driving success. There are some bright spots: both schools exceed or nearly match state proficiency in Algebra I at certain grade levels, and both beat the state average in 12th-grade English Reading (73.91% and 75.86% vs. 70.22%). However, proficiency in Writing, Algebra II, and World History II lags far behind state averages, reflecting severe learning gaps. For families, Huguenot High is clearly the stronger choice within this zip code, while Richmond High School for the Arts faces a deep engagement and retention crisis.
Thank you for your feedback!