Summary:
The 98823 area has two high school programs serving grades 9–12: Ephrata High School, a traditional high school with 886 students, and Sage Hills Open Doors Youth Re-Engagement Program, an alternative program with 39 students; both are operated by Ephrata School District. Together, they serve 925 students, but they have different missions and student populations, so their results should not be compared as though they provide the same type of education.
Ephrata High School is the area’s main comprehensive high school for grades 9–12. Its strongest indicators are student completion and persistence: the 2024–2025 graduation rate was 92.4%, compared with 82.6% statewide, while the dropout rate was 4.2%, less than half the state rate of 9.8%. The school’s statewide ranking also improved over three years, rising from the 24th to the 30th percentile. Academic results are more mixed. In 2025–2026, English Language Arts proficiency was 49.76%, close to the state’s 52.81% and above the district result. Math proficiency was 27.59%, and science proficiency was 33.14%, both well below state levels. Science improved from the prior year, but math declined, making math the clearest academic priority.
Sage Hills Open Doors Youth Re-Engagement Program serves grades 10–12 and is intended for students who need an alternative route back into education after interruptions or difficulties in traditional high school. It has a much smaller enrollment and a higher reported free-or-reduced-price lunch rate than Ephrata High School. Its available school-level results are older: in 2023–2024, graduation was 18.5% and dropout was 37.0%; no current school-specific figures are reported. Parents should therefore seek updated information about credit recovery, persistence, graduation, and transitions to work or further education. Overall, Ephrata offers stronger reported completion outcomes, while Sage Hills provides a specialized option for re-engagement.
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