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What's one thing Bala-Cynwyd MS gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
794
Middle
DISTRICT 886 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LOWER MERION SD·NCES 421416003293
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School
510 Bryn Mawr Ave, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 · (610) 645-1480 · Montgomery County
GRADES 05–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL794 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 98% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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 Pennsylvania public middle schools
Student : Teacher
10.1:1
79 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.0:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
15%
120 students
DISTRICT 16% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 | 202 | 25% |
| Grade 6 | 209 | 26% |
| Grade 7 | 203 | 26% |
| Grade 8 | 180 | 23% |
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 59% · 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
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
82.6%
PA avg 51.1% . -1.9pp since 2023
Math
76.5%
PA avg 43.0% . +0.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 83 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 77 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 82.6% | 76.5% |
| 2023-24 | 84.5% | 75.7% |
% Proficient or Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: PSSA + Keystone. 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
80.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 80% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 71% typical for Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania'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 Bala-Cynwyd Middle School
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School's state test result (80.2% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bala-Cynwyd Middle School this school | 794 | 15.1% | 80.2% |
| Spring-Ford MS 8th Grade Center Royersford | 672 | 16.2% | 63.9% |
| Skyview Upper Elementary School Eagleville | 695 | 20.4% | 62.5% |
| Arcola Intrmd School Eagleville | 692 | 20.8% | 58.1% |
| Radnor Middle School Wayne | 808 | 14.1% | 83.0% |
| Welsh Valley Middle School Narberth | 788 | 17.6% | 80.3% |
Matched among Pennsylvania middle 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 Bala-Cynwyd Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Montgomery County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 80.2% | #7 of 479 | #3 of 33 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 76.5% | #7 of 513 ▼ 2 | #4 of 33 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 82.6% | #11 of 513 ▼ 2 | #3 of 33 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 794 | #120 of 522 | #15 of 34 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.1:1 | #27 of 486 | #5 of 34 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.1% | #98 of 486 | #13 of 34 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 15.1% | #484 of 510 | #32 of 33 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -21.5% | #53 of 332 | #3 of 21 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
794
-256 (-24%) vs 2020
+12% since 1990-91, when it was 712
Student : Teacher
10.1:1
was 10.8:1
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 | 794 | 78.6 | 10.1:1 | 15% (120) |
| 2023-24 | 796 | 80.6 | 9.9:1 | 15% (120) |
| 2022-23 | 809 | 79.5 | 10.2:1 | 12% (97) |
| 2020-21 | 1,050 | 97 | 10.8:1 | 14% (143) |
| 2017-18 | 1,011 | 86.3 | 11.7:1 | 11% (108) |
| 2015-16 | 867 | 83 | 10.4:1 | 9% (76) |
| 2010-11 | 830 | 82 | 10.1:1 | 6% (47) |
| 2000-01 | 906 | 70 | 12.9:1 | 4% (34) |
| 1990-91 | 712 | 53 | 13.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bala-Cynwyd Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (1,011 to 794); teachers down 9% (86.3 to 78.6).
About Bala-Cynwyd Middle School
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School is a medium-sized middle school in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, under Lower Merion SD. Its 794 students are spread across grades 5 through 8. The typical figure for middle schools in Pennsylvania is about 594 students.
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School is part of a district of 11 schools: Lower Merion SD, with 8,533 students.
White students make up a majority at Bala-Cynwyd Middle School, at 61%. The next largest groups are 14% Asian, 10% multiracial, 9% Black, and 5% Hispanic. In Montgomery County overall, about 73% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 58% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The ratio of students to teachers is 10.1:1, with 78.6 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff. On average, middle schools in Pennsylvania have 13.2:1, compared with 10.1:1 here. The school's lunch program data list 15% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. That is 25 points below the 40% average for public schools in Montgomery County.
The allk12 Grade for Bala-Cynwyd Middle School is A+. Compared with Pennsylvania public middle schools, the school scored higher than 98% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Bala-Cynwyd Middle School falls in the middle 80% of Pennsylvania schools: 80.2% actual against 71.1% predicted.
Within Montgomery County, the median household income is $113,915, about 53% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 4%. In all, Montgomery County has 160 public schools and roughly 115,302 students.
The next-closest public school is Cynwyd School, about 0.1 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Of 8 schools in the immediate area with test results, Bala-Cynwyd Middle School ranks 6th on average proficiency.
Locale data from NCES put Bala-Cynwyd Middle School in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more (Suburb: Large).
Over 4 years, Bala-Cynwyd Middle School's enrollment declined 24%, to 794.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at Bala-Cynwyd Middle School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Montgomery County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
867,573
Census ACS
Median income
$113,915
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
53%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
160
115,302 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lower Merion SD
- Lower Merion High SchoolHigh · 1,674 students
- Harriton SHSHigh · 1,239 students
- Black Rock Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,077 students
- Welsh Valley Middle SchoolMiddle · 788 students
- Penn Wynne SchoolElementary · 621 students
- Gladwyne SchoolElementary · 556 students
Other schools in Bala Cynwyd
- Cynwyd SchoolElementary · 446 students
- Belmont Hills Elementary SchoolElementary · 358 students
Nearby schools
- Cynwyd School0.1 mi · 446
- Belmont Hills Elementary School0.7 mi · 358
- Merion Elementary School1.1 mi · 438
- Welsh Valley Middle School1.3 mi · 788
- Penn Valley School1.3 mi · 542
- Dobson James School1.4 mi · 229
Frequently asked questions
About Bala-Cynwyd Middle SchoolHow large is Bala-Cynwyd Middle School?
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School enrolls approximately 794 students in grades 05-08.
Is Bala-Cynwyd Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School is a middle school covering grades 05-08.
How many students per teacher at Bala-Cynwyd Middle School?
Approximately 10.1:1 students per teacher at Bala-Cynwyd Middle School.
How diverse is Bala-Cynwyd Middle School?
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School reports a student body of 61% White, 5% Hispanic, 9% Black, 14% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Bala-Cynwyd Middle School?
Bala-Cynwyd Middle School is overseen by Lower Merion SD in Montgomery County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.