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How has Ephrata SHS changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,347
High
DISTRICT 558 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EPHRATA AREA SD·NCES 420927006293
Ephrata SHS
803 Oak Blvd, Ephrata, PA 17522 · (717) 721-1478 · Lancaster County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,347 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 94% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
111 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.2:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
50%
678 students
DISTRICT 56% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 305 | 23% |
| Grade 10 | 353 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 336 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 353 | 26% |
Student demographics
38%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 41% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Ephrata Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
79.2%
PA avg 51.1% . +4.8pp since 2023
Math
71.2%
PA avg 43.0% . -0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 79 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 71 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are up about 5 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 79.2% | 71.2% |
| 2023-24 | 74.4% | 71.8% |
% 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
70.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.0%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+14.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% 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 Ephrata SHS
Ephrata SHS's state test result (70.9% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ephrata SHS this school | 1,347 | 50.3% | 70.9% |
| Red Lion Area SHS Red Lion | 1,363 | 49.2% | 49.7% |
| Bucks County Technical High School Fairless Hills | 1,415 | 48.9% | 36.3% |
| Waynesboro Area Senior High School Waynesboro | 1,392 | 50.8% | 52.8% |
| Pittston Area SHS Pittston | 1,055 | 53.9% | 42.6% |
| Bangor Area High School Bangor | 883 | 50.6% | 61.2% |
Matched among Pennsylvania high 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 Ephrata SHS ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lancaster County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.9% | #65 of 576 | #4 of 17 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.2% | #39 of 626 ▼ 5 | #3 of 18 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 79.2% | #74 of 626 ▲ 59 | #2 of 18 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,347 | #101 of 713 | #5 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #132 of 601 | #1 of 17 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 38.3% | #235 of 604 | #10 of 17 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 50.3% | #350 of 619 | #5 of 17 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +7.8% | #106 of 221 | #4 of 8 |
Ranked against other public high 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
1,347
+32 (+2%) vs 2020
+15% since 1990-91, when it was 1,170
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 17.8:1
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 | 1,347 | 111.5 | 12.1:1 | 50% (678) |
| 2023-24 | 1,357 | 104.6 | 13.0:1 | 50% (678) |
| 2022-23 | 1,317 | 97.2 | 13.6:1 | 41% (540) |
| 2020-21 | 1,315 | 74 | 17.8:1 | 39% (516) |
| 2017-18 | 1,249 | 74 | 16.9:1 | 40% (494) |
| 2015-16 | 1,247 | 71 | 17.6:1 | 38% (473) |
| 2010-11 | 1,289 | 80 | 16.1:1 | 28% (355) |
| 2000-01 | 1,396 | 78 | 17.9:1 | 11% (154) |
| 1990-91 | 1,170 | 77 | 15.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ephrata SHS.
Since 2017-18: students up 8% (1,249 to 1,347); teachers up 51% (74 to 111.5).
About Ephrata SHS
A large high school in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Ephrata SHS is part of Ephrata Area SD. The latest federal count shows 1,347 students in grades 9 through 12. The average for high schools in Pennsylvania is about 738 students, so this school is 83% larger than average.
Ephrata SHS is one school in a 7-school district, Ephrata Area SD, which enrolls 3,904 students.
At Ephrata SHS, White students make up 77% of the student body. Next come 11% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 3% Black, and 2% Asian. Ephrata SHS's diversity index is 38%, against a US figure of 70%.
The teaching staff at Ephrata SHS is 111.5 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 12.1:1. That matches the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania fairly closely. About 50% of students, or 678, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
allk12 grades Ephrata SHS an A. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
Given its share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, Ephrata SHS would be expected to post about 56.0%. Its actual average proficiency rate on state tests is 70.9%.
Census estimates describe Lancaster County this way: the median household income is $86,959, about 32% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 5%. In all, Lancaster County has 114 public schools and roughly 62,719 students.
The school nearest to Ephrata SHS is Ephrata Intermediate School, at a distance of about 0.4 miles. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Ephrata SHS is 1st on average proficiency.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Large, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment went from 1,315 in 2020-21 to 1,347 in 2024-25, a change of 32 students. The school's ratio fell from 17.8:1 to 12.1:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Conversations here can range across enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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 Ephrata Area SD
- Ephrata Middle SchoolMiddle · 601 students
- Ephrata Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 568 students
- Highland Elementary SchoolElementary · 438 students
- Clay Elementary SchoolElementary · 377 students
- Fulton Elementary SchoolElementary · 297 students
- Akron Elementary SchoolElementary · 276 students
Other schools in Ephrata
- Ephrata Middle SchoolMiddle · 601 students
- Ephrata Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 568 students
- Highland Elementary SchoolElementary · 438 students
- Clay Elementary SchoolElementary · 377 students
- Fulton Elementary SchoolElementary · 297 students
- Lancaster County Career and Technology Center - BrownstownHigh · 25 students
Nearby schools
- Ephrata Intermediate School0.4 mi · 568
- Ephrata Middle School0.4 mi · 601
- Highland Elementary School0.7 mi · 438
- Fulton Elementary School0.7 mi · 297
- Akron Elementary School1.9 mi · 276
- Lancaster County Career and Technology Center - Brownstown3.2 mi · 25
Frequently asked questions
About Ephrata SHSWhat is the total enrollment at Ephrata SHS?
Ephrata SHS enrolls approximately 1,347 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Ephrata SHS serve?
Ephrata SHS serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Ephrata SHS have?
Ephrata SHS employs 111 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.1:1.
What is the student diversity at Ephrata SHS?
Student demographics at Ephrata SHS are roughly 77% White, 11% Hispanic, 3% Black, 2% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is Ephrata SHS in?
Ephrata SHS is part of Ephrata Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.