Enrollment
277
High
DISTRICT 294 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FAIRFIELD AREA SD·NCES 420954006269
Fairfield Area High School
4840 Fairfield Rd, Fairfield, PA 17320 · (717) 642-8228 · Adams County
GRADES 09–12HIGH42-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL277 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 19% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- CTest 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
10.8:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.0:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
25%
69 students
DISTRICT 34% · STATE 75%
Community
0
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 | 68 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 66 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 72 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 71 | 26% |
Student demographics
14%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 12% · 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 Fairfield Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
53.7%
PA avg 51.1% . -11.0pp since 2023
Math
32.8%
PA avg 43.0% . +1.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 33 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 are up about 1 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 53.7% | 32.8% |
| 2023-24 | 64.7% | 31.4% |
% 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
43.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
66.9%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-23.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 67% 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 Fairfield Area High School
Fairfield Area High School's state test result (43.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Area High School this school | 277 | 24.9% | 43.9% |
| Southern Columbia High School Catawissa | 348 | 27.6% | 54.3% |
| South Side High School Hookstown | 272 | 27.9% | 65.2% |
| Greenwood High School Millerstown | 235 | 29.8% | 64.8% |
| Carbon Career & Technical Institute Jim Thorpe | 375 | 28.3% | 48.7% |
| Laurel High School New Castle | 313 | 33.5% | 65.0% |
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 Fairfield Area High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Adams County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.9% | #387 of 576 | #6 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.8% | #374 of 626 ▲ 10 | #6 of 6 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 53.7% | #372 of 626 ▼ 106 | #6 of 6 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 277 | #566 of 713 | #6 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.8:1 | #51 of 601 | #2 of 6 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 13.7% | #460 of 604 | #6 of 6 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 24.9% | #567 of 619 | #6 of 6 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -22.0% | #39 of 373 | N/A |
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
277
-40 (-13%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 383
Student : Teacher
10.8:1
was 11.3:1
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 | 277 | 25.6 | 10.8:1 | 25% (69) |
| 2023-24 | 289 | 26.2 | 11.0:1 | 24% (69) |
| 2022-23 | 298 | 26.1 | 11.4:1 | 18% (55) |
| 2020-21 | 317 | 28 | 11.3:1 | 18% (56) |
| 2017-18 | 355 | 28.2 | 12.6:1 | 20% (71) |
| 2015-16 | 337 | 29 | 11.6:1 | 19% (63) |
| 2010-11 | 420 | 28 | 15.0:1 | 13% (54) |
| 2000-01 | 357 | 26 | 13.7:1 | 29% (102) |
| 1990-91 | 383 | 31 | 12.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Fairfield Area High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (355 to 277); teachers down 9% (28.2 to 25.6).
About Fairfield Area High School
Fairfield Area High School is a small high school based in Fairfield, Pennsylvania. The school had 277 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2024-25. Average enrollment for high schools in Pennsylvania is about 738, so this school runs 62% smaller than that.
Fairfield Area SD includes 3 schools. Together they enroll 882 students.
About 93% of the student body at Fairfield Area High School is White. Beyond that, enrollment is 4% Hispanic. The White share in Adams County as a whole is similar, at about 89%. Fairfield Area High School's diversity index is 14%, against a US figure of 70%.
The school reports 25.6 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 10.8 students per teacher. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 25%. Among public schools in Adams County, the average eligibility rate is 47%.
Measured against Pennsylvania public high schools, Fairfield Area High School receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Fairfield Area High School is 23.1 points below expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the bottom 10% in Pennsylvania.
In Adams County (population about 106,115), the median household income is $84,092, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 26% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 5%. There are 26 public schools in Adams County, enrolling about 12,831 students in all.
Of nearby public schools, Fairfield Area Middle School is the closest, at less than a tenth of a mile. In all, 2 other public schools sit within five miles of Fairfield Area High School. On proficiency, Fairfield Area High School is behind the 49.6% nearby average, ranking 5th of 8.
The school's federal locale classification is Rural: Distant.
The school enrolled 277 students in 2024-25, 40 fewer than the 317 it had in 2020-21.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss school safety, transportation, and start times at Fairfield Area High School. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Adams County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
106,115
Census ACS
Median income
$84,092
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
26%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
26
12,831 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Fairfield Area SD
- Fairfield Area Elementary SchoolElementary · 346 students
- Fairfield Area Middle SchoolMiddle · 259 students
Other schools in Fairfield
- Fairfield Area Elementary SchoolElementary · 346 students
- Fairfield Area Middle SchoolMiddle · 259 students
Nearby schools
- Fairfield Area Middle School0.0 mi · 259
- Fairfield Area Elementary School0.3 mi · 346
- Emmitsburg Elementary6.0 mi · 211
- Franklin Twp Elementary School6.9 mi · 340
- South Mountain Secure Trmnt Un7.7 mi · 24
- Cascade Elementary7.7 mi · 137
Frequently asked questions
About Fairfield Area High SchoolHow many students attend Fairfield Area High School?
Fairfield Area High School enrolls approximately 277 students in grades 09-12.
Is Fairfield Area High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Fairfield Area High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Fairfield Area High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Fairfield Area High School is approximately 10.8:1 (26 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Fairfield Area High School?
At Fairfield Area High School, the student body is approximately 93% White, 4% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is Fairfield Area High School in?
Fairfield Area High School is part of Fairfield Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.