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Parents: what's one thing you'd want the Fort Cherry El Ctr administration to hear?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
455
Elementary
DISTRICT 456 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FORT CHERRY SD·NCES 420996007270
Fort Cherry El Ctr
110 Fort Cherry Road, Mc Donald, PA 15057 · (724) 796-1551 · Washington County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL455 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
51%
234 students
DISTRICT 51% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
Fort Cherry El Ctr→Fort Cherry JSHS
Based on grade levels within Fort Cherry SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
63.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -8.8pp since 2023
Math
63.1%
PA avg 43.0% . +0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 64 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 63 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 9 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
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
68.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
55.6%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+12.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 68% 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
455
-79 (-15%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 13.7:1
% White
89%
was 91%
% Hispanic
3%
was 2%
% Black
0%
was 1%
% Asian
0%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About Fort Cherry El Ctr
As a moderately sized elementary school in Mc Donald, Pennsylvania, Fort Cherry El Ctr serves 455 students from grades K through 6, overseen by Fort Cherry SD.
Within Fort Cherry SD, which oversees 2 schools and 912 students, Fort Cherry El Ctr is one campus in the system.
On the student-mix side, Fort Cherry El Ctr lists that 89% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority; the rest comes out to 7% multiracial, 3% Hispanic. That mix tracks the wider county fairly closely.
Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 37 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.1:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 13.1:1, putting Fort Cherry El Ctr tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 51% of students at Fort Cherry El Ctr qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.
Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Fort Cherry El Ctr performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 55.6%, the actual is 68.2%, a residual of +12.6 points.
Around the school, ACS estimates for Washington County put median household income runs about $78,958, roughly 33% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Washington County's 56 public schools (combined enrollment of about 26,079 students), Fort Cherry El Ctr is one campus in the mix.
The closest other public school is Fort Cherry JSHS, roughly 0.1 miles away. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Fort Cherry El Ctr comes 6th of 8 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 74.4%.
The campus sits in a low-density setting.
Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 15%: 534 students in 2018 compared to 455 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 13.7:1 in 2018 to 12.1:1 today.
Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Fort Cherry El Ctr community share and discuss school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to weigh in.
Washington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
210,042
Census ACS
Median income
$78,958
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
56
26,079 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Mc Donald
- Fort Cherry JSHSHigh · 457 students
- Cecil Intrmd SchMiddle · 412 students
Nearby schools
- Fort Cherry JSHS0.1 mi · 457
- Cecil Intrmd Sch3.5 mi · 412
- Donaldson Elem Sch5.7 mi · 535
- Muse El Sch5.8 mi · 759
- South Fayette El Sch6.2 mi · 717
- South Fayette MS6.2 mi · 859
Frequently asked questions
About Fort Cherry El CtrHow many students attend Fort Cherry El Ctr?
Fort Cherry El Ctr enrolls approximately 455 students in grades KG-06.
Is Fort Cherry El Ctr an elementary, middle, or high school?
Fort Cherry El Ctr is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many teachers does Fort Cherry El Ctr have?
Fort Cherry El Ctr employs 37 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.1:1.
What is the student diversity at Fort Cherry El Ctr?
Student demographics at Fort Cherry El Ctr are roughly 89% White, 3% Hispanic, 0% Black, 0% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Fort Cherry El Ctr in?
Fort Cherry El Ctr is part of Fort Cherry SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.