Building 21 Allentown

Building 21 Allentown is a close-knit four-year high school in Allentown, Pennsylvania, overseen by Allentown City SD. The school educates 415 students in grades 9 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 44% below the state mean of about 738.

Building 21 Allentown is one of 23 schools operated by Allentown City SD, a district that serves 16,674 students overall.

In terms of who attends, Building 21 Allentown lists that nearly all students (81%) are Hispanic; the rest reads as 9% Black, 5% multiracial, 3% White. By comparison, Lehigh County as a whole is about 28% Hispanic, so the school skews noticeably more Hispanic than its surroundings.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 26 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.0:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 12.8:1 average. Around 99% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. Set against Lehigh County (around 70%), the school's rate is north of typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), On a poverty-adjusted basis, Building 21 Allentown sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 35.1%; actual is 17.6%, a gap of -17.5 points.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Lehigh County) records that median household earnings sit near $80,079, roughly 34% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 8% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Building 21 Allentown is one of 83 public schools in Lehigh County (combined enrollment of about 56,984 students).

Arts Academy Elementary CS is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Building 21 Allentown. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Building 21 Allentown ranks 6th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 18.9%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count changed only slightly: 406 students in 2018 compared to 415 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share ticked up from 71% to 81%.

On the community side, members of the Building 21 Allentown community share and discuss science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.