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What do students at Central Dauphin MS actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
834
Middle
DISTRICT 747 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CENTRAL DAUPHIN SD·NCES 420540000838
Central Dauphin Middle School
4600 Locust Lane, Harrisburg, PA 17109 · (717) 540-4606 · Dauphin County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL834 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 54% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats 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
14.7:1
57 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.4:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
37%
306 students
DISTRICT 87% · 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 6 | 254 | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 277 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 303 | 36% |
Student demographics
53%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 74% · 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
57.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -8.3pp since 2023
Math
41.1%
PA avg 43.0% . +3.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 41 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 57.8% | 41.1% |
| 2023-24 | 66.1% | 37.9% |
% 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
52.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.9%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 53% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 62% 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 Central Dauphin Middle School
Central Dauphin Middle School's state test result (52.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Dauphin Middle School this school | 834 | 36.7% | 52.9% |
| William Penn Middle School Yardley | 904 | 35.8% | 55.0% |
| Keith Valley Middle School Horsham | 966 | 39.5% | 55.8% |
| Mechanicsburg Middle School Mechanicsburg | 1,112 | 39.7% | 50.5% |
| Charles H Boehm Middle School Yardley | 651 | 32.4% | 59.6% |
| Manheim Twp Middle School Lancaster | 914 | 33.6% | 60.6% |
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 Central Dauphin Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Dauphin County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 52.9% | #178 of 479 | #2 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 41.1% | #201 of 513 ▲ 30 | #2 of 14 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.8% | #168 of 513 ▼ 35 | #2 of 14 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 834 | #104 of 522 | #2 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.7:1 | #383 of 486 | #9 of 14 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 52.9% | #138 of 486 | #9 of 14 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 36.7% | #369 of 510 | #11 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +14.6% | #37 of 131 | #5 of 7 |
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
834
+49 (+6%) vs 2020
+15% since 2010-11, when it was 727
Student : Teacher
14.7:1
was 16.0:1
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 | 834 | 56.9 | 14.7:1 | 37% (306) |
| 2023-24 | 855 | 59.6 | 14.4:1 | 36% (306) |
| 2022-23 | 848 | 53.8 | 15.8:1 | 33% (282) |
| 2020-21 | 785 | 49 | 16.0:1 | 26% (207) |
| 2017-18 | 728 | 48 | 15.2:1 | 24% (173) |
| 2015-16 | 722 | 47 | 15.4:1 | 22% (162) |
| 2010-11 | 727 | 55 | 13.2:1 | 17% (123) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Central Dauphin Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 15% (728 to 834); teachers up 19% (48 to 56.9).
About Central Dauphin Middle School
Central Dauphin Middle School is a medium-sized middle school in Pennsylvania, located in Harrisburg. It serves 834 students in grades 6 through 8. For comparison, middle schools in Pennsylvania average about 594 students.
Central Dauphin SD enrolls 12,389 students, and its 19 schools include Central Dauphin Middle School.
At Central Dauphin Middle School, White students make up 66% of the student body. The next largest groups are 10% Black, 10% Asian, 8% Hispanic, and 6% multiracial. County-wide, about 63% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 53% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teachers at the school number 56.9 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 14.7:1. On average, middle schools in Pennsylvania have 13.2:1, compared with 14.7:1 here. The school's lunch program data list 37% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Dauphin County is 59%.
Measured against Pennsylvania public middle schools, Central Dauphin Middle School receives a B-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Central Dauphin Middle School scores 52.9% on state tests, averaged across results. The predicted figure, based on its student poverty level, is 61.9%.
Dauphin County has these Census figures: the median household income is $76,242, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 34%, and about 9% of people live in poverty. In all, Dauphin County has 75 public schools and roughly 72,718 students.
The closest other public school is Phillips Elementary School, about 0.4 miles away. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. In a group of 6 nearby schools with scores, Central Dauphin Middle School ranks 3rd on average proficiency.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
2024-25 enrollment was 834, a 6% gain from 785 in 2020-21. By 2024-25, the school had 14.7 students per teacher, compared with 16.0 in 2020-21.
Parents and students can post about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Central Dauphin Middle School. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Dauphin County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
289,593
Census ACS
Median income
$76,242
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
75
72,718 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Central Dauphin SD
- Central Dauphin SHSHigh · 1,966 students
- Central Dauphin East SHSHigh · 1,573 students
- Linglestown Middle SchoolMiddle · 841 students
- North Side Elementary SchoolElementary · 722 students
- Central Dauphin East Middle SchoolMiddle · 702 students
- Paxtonia Elementary SchoolElementary · 682 students
Other schools in Harrisburg
- Commonwealth Charter Academy CSCombined · 29,320 students
- Reach Cyber CSCombined · 5,721 students
- Central Dauphin SHSHigh · 1,966 students
- Central Dauphin East SHSHigh · 1,573 students
- Harrisburg High SchoolHigh · 1,343 students
- Dauphin County Technical SchoolHigh · 1,187 students
Nearby schools
- Phillips Elementary School0.4 mi · 393
- Infinity CS0.7 mi · 256
- Central Dauphin East SHS0.8 mi · 1,573
- North Side Elementary School0.9 mi · 722
- Central Dauphin East Middle School1.0 mi · 702
- South Side Elementary School1.1 mi · 603
Frequently asked questions
About Central Dauphin Middle SchoolHow many students attend Central Dauphin Middle School?
Central Dauphin Middle School enrolls approximately 834 students in grades 06-08.
Is Central Dauphin Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Central Dauphin Middle School is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Central Dauphin Middle School have?
Central Dauphin Middle School employs 57 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.7:1.
How diverse is Central Dauphin Middle School?
Central Dauphin Middle School reports a student body of 66% White, 8% Hispanic, 10% Black, 10% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Central Dauphin Middle School?
Central Dauphin Middle School is overseen by Central Dauphin SD in Dauphin County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.