1
If you could change one rule at Donegal JHS, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
419
Middle
DISTRICT 685 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DONEGAL SD·NCES 420765007201
Donegal Junior High School
915 Anderson Ferry Road, Mount Joy, PA 17552 · (717) 928-2900 · Lancaster County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL419 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 51% 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.
- B-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
13.9:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.0:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
225 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 7 | 202 | 48% |
| Grade 8 | 217 | 52% |
Student demographics
45%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 43% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Donegal Junior High School→Donegal High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Donegal SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
46.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -11.3pp since 2023
Math
37.4%
PA avg 43.0% . -0.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 47 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 37 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 11 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 46.5% | 37.4% |
| 2023-24 | 57.8% | 37.7% |
% 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
48.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.6%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 55% 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 Donegal Junior High School
Donegal Junior High School's state test result (48.1% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donegal Junior High School this school | 419 | 53.7% | 48.1% |
| DeFranco Elementary School Bangor | 413 | 55.9% | 54.3% |
| Upper Adams Intrmdt School Arendtsville | 361 | 57.1% | 54.6% |
| Dingman-Delaware Middle School Dingmans Ferry | 532 | 48.1% | 52.7% |
| New Oxford Middle School New Oxford | 567 | 49.2% | 51.5% |
| Ephrata Intermediate School Ephrata | 568 | 53.3% | 47.4% |
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 Donegal Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lancaster County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.1% | #242 of 479 | #12 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 37.4% | #248 of 513 ▼ 13 | #14 of 26 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 46.5% | #325 of 513 ▼ 83 | #17 of 26 ▼ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 419 | #355 of 522 | #19 of 26 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.9:1 | #328 of 486 | #20 of 26 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 44.6% | #193 of 486 | #13 of 26 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 53.7% | #230 of 510 | #8 of 24 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.2% | #97 of 332 | #5 of 15 |
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
419
-49 (-10%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 580
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
was 15.6:1
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 | 419 | 30.1 | 13.9:1 | 54% (225) |
| 2023-24 | 445 | 31.1 | 14.3:1 | 51% (225) |
| 2022-23 | 457 | 30 | 15.3:1 | 49% (225) |
| 2020-21 | 468 | 30 | 15.6:1 | 38% (179) |
| 2017-18 | 494 | 29.3 | 16.9:1 | 38% (186) |
| 2015-16 | 457 | 29 | 15.8:1 | 39% (177) |
| 2010-11 | 646 | 38 | 17.0:1 | 33% (213) |
| 2000-01 | 624 | 40 | 15.6:1 | 16% (101) |
| 1990-91 | 580 | 34 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Donegal Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (494 to 419); teachers up 3% (29.3 to 30.1).
About Donegal Junior High School
Donegal Junior High School sits in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, and is classified as a middle-grades school. The school offers grades 7 through 8 and enrolls 419 students. That puts enrollment 29% below the 594-student average for middle schools in Pennsylvania.
Donegal SD runs 4 schools with a combined 2,739 students. Donegal Junior High School is one of them.
White students are 72% of those enrolled at Donegal Junior High School. Next come 20% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, and 3% Black. That compares with about 82% White among all Lancaster County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 45%.
Donegal Junior High School has 30.1 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff and a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.9:1. The school's 13.9:1 compares with an average of 13.2:1 for middle schools in Pennsylvania. The school has 54% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is in line with the 55% average for public schools in Lancaster County.
Among Pennsylvania public middle schools, Donegal Junior High School outscored 51%, which works out to a B- on the allk12 Grade.
In Pennsylvania, Donegal Junior High School is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 48.1% actual against a predicted 54.6%.
For the population of Lancaster County, median household income comes to about $86,959, roughly 32% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Lancaster County counts 114 public schools with about 62,719 students.
Donegal Junior High School is about 0.4 miles from Donegal High School, its nearest public school. Donegal Junior High School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Nearby schools average 56.8% on proficiency, and Donegal Junior High School is below that at 48.1%.
For locale, NCES codes Donegal Junior High School as Rural: Fringe.
By 2024-25, enrollment had dropped to 419, from 468 in 2020-21. Its ratio of students to teachers was 15.6:1 in 2020-21, and 13.9:1 in 2024-25.
This page is set up for the Donegal Junior High School community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Lancaster County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
557,931
Census ACS
Median income
$86,959
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
32%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
114
62,719 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Donegal SD
- Donegal High SchoolHigh · 955 students
- Donegal Intermediate SchoolElementary · 806 students
- Donegal Primary SchoolElementary · 559 students
Other schools in Mount Joy
- Donegal High SchoolHigh · 955 students
- Donegal Primary SchoolElementary · 559 students
- Farmdale Elementary SchoolElementary · 489 students
- Lancaster County Career and Technology Center - Mt JoyHigh · 15 students
Nearby schools
- Donegal High School0.4 mi · 955
- Donegal Primary School0.7 mi · 559
- Lancaster County Career and Technology Center - Mt Joy1.8 mi · 15
- Donegal Intermediate School2.5 mi · 806
- Columbia High School3.4 mi · 397
- Columbia MS Hill Campus3.4 mi · 202
Frequently asked questions
About Donegal Junior High SchoolHow many students attend Donegal Junior High School?
Donegal Junior High School enrolls approximately 419 students in grades 07-08.
Is Donegal Junior High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Donegal Junior High School is a middle school covering grades 07-08.
How many teachers does Donegal Junior High School have?
Donegal Junior High School employs 30 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Donegal Junior High School?
Student demographics at Donegal Junior High School are roughly 72% White, 20% Hispanic, 3% Black, 2% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Donegal Junior High School in?
Donegal Junior High School is part of Donegal SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.