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If you had an hour of school board time for Christopher Columbus CS, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
829
Elementary
STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS CS·NCES 420005200489
Christopher Columbus CS
South Building, Philadelphia, PA 19147 · (215) 389-6000 · Philadelphia County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYCHARTERREGULAR SCHOOL829 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 33% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
59 FTE teachers
STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
30%
248 students
STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 88 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 94 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 91 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 106 | 13% |
| Grade 4 | 86 | 10% |
| Grade 5 | 85 | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 103 | 12% |
| Grade 7 | 83 | 10% |
| Grade 8 | 93 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (88) is 5% smaller than its 8th grade class (93).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
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
60.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -2.9pp since 2023
Math
44.4%
PA avg 43.0% . +5.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 61 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 60.8% | 44.4% |
| 2023-24 | 63.7% | 38.8% |
% 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
54.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
64.8%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-10.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 65% 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 Christopher Columbus CS
Christopher Columbus CS's state test result (54.0% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Columbus CS this school | 829 | 29.9% | 54.0% |
| Shady Grove Elementary School Ambler | 698 | 28.9% | 75.7% |
| Penn Wynne School Wynnewood | 621 | 18.7% | 83.3% |
| McKinley School Elkins Park | 596 | 34.9% | 65.5% |
| West Hanover Elementary School Harrisburg | 589 | 36.7% | 71.4% |
| Rydal Elementary School Huntingdon Valley | 569 | 26.7% | 76.4% |
Matched among Pennsylvania elementary 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 Christopher Columbus CS ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Philadelphia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 54.0% | #759 of 1,396 | #15 of 161 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.4% | #912 of 1,511 ▲ 75 | #19 of 193 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.8% | #408 of 1,511 ▲ 92 | #14 of 193 ▼ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 829 | #70 of 1,638 | #25 of 194 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.1:1 | #1,077 of 1,528 | #106 of 189 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.0% | #119 of 1,531 | #28 of 189 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 29.9% | #1,327 of 1,600 | #193 of 193 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.5% | #912 of 1,045 | #124 of 135 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
829
-71 (-8%) vs 2020
+96% since 2000-01, when it was 424
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
was 16.1:1
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 | 829 | 59 | 14.1:1 | 30% (248) |
| 2023-24 | 835 | 64 | 13.1:1 | 30% (248) |
| 2022-23 | 862 | 60.8 | 14.2:1 | 41% (351) |
| 2020-21 | 900 | 56 | 16.1:1 | 70% (633) |
| 2017-18 | 859 | 52.2 | 16.5:1 | N/A |
| 2015-16 | 800 | 51 | 15.7:1 | 100% (800) |
| 2010-11 | 769 | 49 | 15.7:1 | 64% (493) |
| 2000-01 | 424 | 26 | 16.3:1 | 0% (0) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Christopher Columbus CS.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (859 to 829); teachers up 13% (52.2 to 59).
About Christopher Columbus CS
Christopher Columbus CS is a large elementary school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of the schools in Christopher Columbus CS. The student body numbers 829 students, from kindergarten through 8. Average enrollment for elementary schools in Pennsylvania is about 443, so this school runs 87% larger than that.
In federal data, the district for Christopher Columbus CS is the school itself.
No single group makes up more than half of enrollment at Christopher Columbus CS. The largest is White students, at 48%. Next come 20% Black, 14% Asian, 13% Hispanic, and 5% multiracial. That compares with about 35% White among all Philadelphia County residents. The school's diversity index is 69%, meaning two students picked at random have a 69% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Christopher Columbus CS counts 59 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 14.1 students for each one. On average, elementary schools in Pennsylvania have 13.1:1, compared with 14.1:1 here. About 30% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in Philadelphia County average 95%.
allk12 grades Christopher Columbus CS a C. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Christopher Columbus CS would score about 64.8%. It scores 54.0%, 10.7 points below that figure.
Philadelphia County has about 1,579,706 residents, and the median household income is $61,953, about 35% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 17%. In all, Philadelphia County has 309 public schools and roughly 182,005 students.
The nearest public school is Fanny Jackson Coppin School, at about 0.1 miles. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. Christopher Columbus CS comes in 4th of 9 nearby schools on average proficiency.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Large. The school is classified as a charter school in federal data.
Over 4 years, Christopher Columbus CS's enrollment dropped 8%, to 829. The student-to-teacher ratio went down from 16.1:1 to 14.1:1.
To ask about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs, start a discussion on this page. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Philadelphia County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,579,706
Census ACS
Median income
$61,953
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
17%
Below federal line
Schools in county
309
182,005 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Philadelphia
- Northeast High SchoolHigh · 3,463 students
- Philadelphia Performing Arts CSCombined · 2,572 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,472 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 2,329 students
- MaST Community CS IICombined · 1,875 students
- First Philadelphia Preparatory CSCombined · 1,831 students
Nearby schools
- Fanny Jackson Coppin School0.1 mi · 547
- Creative and Performing Arts0.4 mi · 643
- Childs George W School0.4 mi · 471
- Academy at Palumbo0.5 mi · 1,225
- Universal Institute CS0.5 mi · 597
- Stanton Edwin M School0.5 mi · 329
Frequently asked questions
About Christopher Columbus CSHow many students attend Christopher Columbus CS?
Christopher Columbus CS enrolls approximately 829 students in grades KG-08.
What grades does Christopher Columbus CS serve?
Christopher Columbus CS serves grades KG-08.
How many teachers does Christopher Columbus CS have?
Christopher Columbus CS employs 59 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.1:1.
How diverse is Christopher Columbus CS?
Christopher Columbus CS reports a student body of 48% White, 13% Hispanic, 20% Black, 14% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Christopher Columbus CS?
Christopher Columbus CS is overseen by Christopher Columbus CS in Philadelphia County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.