Albemarle High School

2775 Hydraulic Road

School District

Albemarle County Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:13
Type

public

School Map for Albemarle County Public Schools

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on November 04, 2023

My three children attend AHS now and we love the school. Plenty of activities and learning opportunities for each individual l. The school has a great “Patriot” spirit and the kids look very happy at all the social events for homecoming, sports, charity Powder Puff, etc.
Submitted by parent on May 15, 2023

The overall rating for this school does not reflect my family's experience. The school's MESA program attracts the best and brightest from all over the county - other county high schools have tried hard to come up with their own specialty programs in order to retain students. The school is larger than other high schools in the area, meaning that it is harder for a student to participate in a competitive sport. But the school also offers Rowing as a club sport, which was fantastic for our child. The coaches are incredibly dedicated, and students are not competing against others who have been playing a single sport since kindergarten - nobody rows before high school. The club competed against some of the best public and private schools in the country and produced national champions on a shoestring budget. Our student graduated from AHS and enrolled in a good college - we were very happy with AHS's contribution to his development.
Submitted by parent on September 12, 2022

I graduated from Albemarle High in 1989 and my husband graduated from Western Albemarle High. At the time and into my adulthood Albemarle County we're rated great, so naturally we wanted our children to go to the same great schools. Under the current and previous administration, these school have focused more on putting their time, effort and money into changing school names (which surveys show NOBODY agreed with) than getting the children to and from school. They completely changed grading so nobody fails (a child can basically give up trying and going to school and pass with flying colors). Bully's get high fives from the principal and rewarded when they behave but good, well behaved kids get nothing. Dress codes are non-existent as it seems to now be a trend to show as much skin as possible. There is absolutely no discipline from the teachers anymore so drugs and fighting has escalated. Also, they seem to dumb down the lesson plans every year. It's truly amazing how much the school board and superintendent has failed us in the past 6 years. I honestly regret moving back to this county.
Submitted by other on September 08, 2019

I would love to move my family back to this area just so my son could go here. I loved this school. A+
Submitted by parent on July 14, 2016

My rising 10th grader had a good transition to Albemarle this year. He is involved in sports and is in all AP and honors classes. He had a great year according to his grades and liked the kids and coaches involved with sports teams. We had no major bumps and hope for the same next year!
Submitted by parent on January 21, 2015

As a parent of a 9th grader there, I was of course concerned that the school be engaged with me and have a plan set up to make the transition an easy one. I have received neither. From summer assignments that were unclear or not even handed out to some children, to no regular access to teachers it was a shock. Since the first month though, things have gotten worse. They do not offer regular access to school extracurriculars, their school computer program is completely mismanaged, and much of the staff there have gone out of there way to demonstrate a culture of unaccountability. This school has firmed in our mind that we will be moving from the school district. Don't send your kids here.
Submitted by student on August 17, 2014

I am a rising senior at Albemarle High School, and while I do agree that the school has some short comings, I would like to point out that no school is perfect. Hence the reasoning for my 4/5 star review as opposed to 5/5. There are a few incompetent teachers at the school, though if you bring it up with the higher ups things normally get straightened out one way or another, but overall I love all of my teachers, they're energetic but also informative, and yes, from what I have seen the extracurriculars at the school are great, and if you want to make a new club, then simply get a couple people together and get a teacher to represent you, then you're good to go, I set up a club for my robotics group this way. Yes, I am mostly an A student, so I can't speak all that much for the academic classes and it has surprised me that some years you either take academic or a college class of the subject, no honors, Also the comment about the drugs, that was only one incident, which was then dealt with swiftly, it is not the school's fault if its students decide to deal drugs on the premises, it is the school's fault if they let it continue. Which, they didn't, it was quickly dealt with.
Submitted by parent on October 18, 2013

Our two daughters, academically strong and from an affluent family did very well at AHS. Lots of AP options, talented teachers, good athletics and an outstanding art/music/drama program. Admin is so-so and has not been wholly stable. We were really very happy there. I just read many of the negative reviews. Many of these issues are true; a student who doesn't excel academically or in a club can get lost in the shuffle. We were at another outstanding school with the same problems. Parental involvement is crucial, and without it good schools are no substitute. The alternative might be to focus attention on the students who are not succeeding but that is fraught too. I suspect that a student who hates AHS, isn't doing well academically, and has parents who can't be bothered to interact with teachers would do no better at another school. The wide mix of AHS students might make this disparity more evident though. AHS will do better now that the SOL issue is diminishing, and it could use improvements in the physical plant. It could stop doing dumb things like buying iPads for (select) students too.