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What's the biggest difference between Disston Hamilton Sch and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
737
Elementary
DISTRICT 474 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PHILADELPHIA CITY SD·NCES 421899003763
Disston Hamilton School
6801 Cottage St, Philadelphia, PA 19135 · (215) 400-3350 · Philadelphia County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL737 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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
16.8:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
736 students
DISTRICT 99% · 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 | 82 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 74 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 83 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 64 | 9% |
| Grade 4 | 89 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 79 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 92 | 12% |
| Grade 7 | 79 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 95 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (82) is 14% smaller than its 8th grade class (95).
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
13.2%
PA avg 51.1% . -1.8pp since 2023
Math
10.1%
PA avg 43.0% . +0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 13 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 10 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 | 13.2% | 10.1% |
| 2023-24 | 15.0% | 9.5% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
13.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.8%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-20.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 14% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 35% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Disston Hamilton School
Disston Hamilton School's state test result (13.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disston Hamilton School this school | 737 | 99.9% | 13.8% |
| Forrest Edwin School Philadelphia | 841 | 97.4% | 21.7% |
| Marshall Street Elementary School Norristown | 585 | 96.8% | 35.5% |
| Lawton Henry W School Philadelphia | 571 | 99.3% | 23.6% |
| Hannah Penn York | 674 | 98.2% | 8.3% |
| Carnell Laura H School Philadelphia | 639 | 99.7% | 14.2% |
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 Disston Hamilton School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Philadelphia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 13.8% | #1,345 of 1,396 | #129 of 161 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.1% | #1,416 of 1,511 ▼ 13 | #130 of 193 ▼ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 13.2% | #1,453 of 1,511 ▲ 6 | #167 of 193 ▼ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 737 | #111 of 1,638 | #36 of 194 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #1,448 of 1,528 | #166 of 189 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 61.6% | #285 of 1,531 | #53 of 189 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.9% | #311 of 1,600 | #75 of 193 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.2% | #375 of 1,045 | #95 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
737
-34 (-4%) vs 2020
+10% since 1990-91, when it was 669
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 18.8:1
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 | 737 | 44 | 16.8:1 | 100% (736) |
| 2023-24 | 735 | 46.9 | 15.7:1 | N/A |
| 2022-23 | 713 | 41.7 | 17.1:1 | 100% (713) |
| 2020-21 | 771 | 41 | 18.8:1 | 100% (768) |
| 2017-18 | 890 | 43.8 | 20.3:1 | 100% (889) |
| 2015-16 | 866 | 45 | 19.2:1 | 100% (866) |
| 2010-11 | 819 | 49 | 16.7:1 | 49% (403) |
| 2000-01 | 748 | 36 | 20.8:1 | 35% (264) |
| 1990-91 | 669 | 32 | 20.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Disston Hamilton School.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (890 to 737); teachers unchanged (43.8 to 44).
About Disston Hamilton School
This page covers Disston Hamilton School, a high-enrollment elementary school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Enrollment is 737 students in 2024-25, and the school serves kindergarten through 8. The average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania is about 443 students, so this school is 66% bigger than average.
Philadelphia City SD oversees Disston Hamilton School and 219 other schools, with 116,230 students in total.
Roughly 53% of students at Disston Hamilton School are Hispanic. Other reported shares: 30% Black, 11% White, 3% multiracial, and 2% Asian. Philadelphia County's residents are about 16% Hispanic, 37 points below the school's share. The school's diversity index is 62%, meaning two students picked at random have a 62% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Disston Hamilton School operates with 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, a ratio of about 16.8:1. On average, elementary schools in Pennsylvania have 13.1:1, compared with 16.8:1 here. Disston Hamilton School reports 100% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Measured against Pennsylvania public elementary schools, Disston Hamilton School receives an F. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
A school in Pennsylvania with Disston Hamilton School's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 34.8%. Disston Hamilton School scores 13.8%.
Disston Hamilton School is located in Philadelphia County, where 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%. Besides Disston Hamilton School, Philadelphia County has 308 other public schools.
Keystone Academy CS is the public school closest to Disston Hamilton School, about 0.2 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Disston Hamilton School at 9th of 9.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Large.
Enrollment has fallen by 34 students since 2020-21, to 737. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio fell to 16.8:1, from 18.8:1.
The discussion area below is open to posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
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 City SD
- Northeast High SchoolHigh · 3,463 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,472 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 2,329 students
- Northeast Community Propel AcademyElementary · 1,783 students
- Mayfair SchoolElementary · 1,763 students
- Washington George High SchoolHigh · 1,755 students
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
- Keystone Academy CS0.2 mi · 642
- Forrest Edwin School0.7 mi · 841
- Allen Ethan School0.8 mi · 957
- Mayfair School0.8 mi · 1,763
- Lawton Henry W School0.8 mi · 571
- Lincoln High School1.1 mi · 2,472
Frequently asked questions
About Disston Hamilton SchoolHow large is Disston Hamilton School?
Disston Hamilton School enrolls approximately 737 students in grades KG-08.
What age range does Disston Hamilton School serve?
Disston Hamilton School serves students from grade KG through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Disston Hamilton School?
Approximately 16.8:1 students per teacher at Disston Hamilton School.
How diverse is Disston Hamilton School?
Disston Hamilton School reports a student body of 11% White, 53% Hispanic, 30% Black, 2% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Disston Hamilton School in?
Disston Hamilton School is part of Philadelphia City SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.