Original Research by School Decision on Utah Career Path High School
Utah Career Path High School is a small single-school charter district serving grades nine through twelve in Davis County. The school describes itself, as publicly reported, as a blended-learning early-college model with a partnership with Davis Technical College. That means students take a mix of online and in-person instruction while also earning college credit through a technical college partnership. For a family interested in a nontraditional high school experience that combines academics with career and technical education, that model is the central feature.
Enrollment is small. Most students are White, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races. Data on economic disadvantage, special education, and English learner status was not available, so it is not possible to describe those dimensions of the student body. The school serves only high school grades, so there are no elementary or middle school feeder patterns to consider.
State assessment results come from the 2016–17 school year, the only year in the available data, and are based on very small numbers of test-takers. In math, proficiency fell in a lower range, with only a small number of students tested and a participation rate that was below typical levels. In English language arts, the tested group was even smaller, and the participation rate was reported at zero percent, which means the results cannot be taken as representative of the school’s overall performance. Science results were reported from a range with no tested count or participation rate, so they are similarly difficult to interpret. Given the age of the data and the low participation, these numbers offer little reliable information about current academic achievement. A parent would want to ask the school directly about more recent student outcomes.
Chronic absenteeism is a notable concern. The rate places the school in the bottom quartile among Davis County’s districts, meaning a substantial share of students miss enough school to be counted as chronically absent. That figure is significantly higher than the county median. This is a pattern a family would want to discuss with the school to understand what supports are in place.
Per-pupil current spending is in the upper range among Davis County districts, which may reflect the costs of running a small charter school with a specialized early-college program. No graduation rate was available in the data, which is a gap. That may be because the school’s reporting does not align with the typical four-year cohort measure, or because the data has not been collected in this particular dataset. Either way, a parent looking for that metric would need to seek it from the school or state.
The district is a single-school charter, so there is no broader district office or multiple school options to compare internally. No property-tax shifts, referenda, or major curriculum changes were found in public reporting for the recent past. The school’s model appears to be stable.
This is a niche option. It fits a student who wants a small, career-linked high school with college credit opportunities and a blended schedule. The chronic absenteeism rate and the sparse academic data are areas a family would want to investigate directly. Without more current testing information or graduation outcomes, the picture is incomplete, but the school’s stated purpose is clear.
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