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What's the biggest difference between Freire CS and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,024
High
STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FREIRE CS·NCES 420006000502
Freire CS
2027 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 · (215) 557-8555 · Philadelphia County
GRADES 05–12HIGH11-CITYCHARTERTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,024 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 12% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-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 high schools
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
74 FTE teachers
STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
93%
953 students
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 5 | 52 | 5% |
| Grade 6 | 116 | 11% |
| Grade 7 | 160 | 16% |
| Grade 8 | 157 | 15% |
| Grade 9 | 169 | 17% |
| Grade 10 | 154 | 15% |
| Grade 11 | 123 | 12% |
| Grade 12 | 93 | 9% |
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
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
28.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -7.7pp since 2023
Math
11.0%
PA avg 43.0% . +5.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 28.8% | 11.0% |
| 2023-24 | 36.5% | 5.4% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
23.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.7%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 24% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 38% 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 Freire CS
Freire CS's state test result (23.9% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freire CS this school | 1,024 | 93.1% | 23.9% |
| Mastery CS-Pickett Campus Philadelphia | 929 | 97.5% | 21.1% |
| Penn Wood High School Lansdowne | 1,148 | 97.6% | 21.9% |
| Mastery CS - Shoemaker Campus Philadelphia | 722 | 99.6% | 21.0% |
| Mastery CS-Gratz Campus Philadelphia | 1,048 | 98.9% | 21.1% |
| Philadelphia Electrical & Technology CHS Philadelphia | 629 | 97.8% | 22.2% |
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 Freire CS ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Philadelphia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.9% | #507 of 576 | #24 of 57 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.0% | #554 of 626 ▲ 27 | #33 of 67 ▲ 15 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 28.8% | #565 of 626 ▼ 15 | #41 of 67 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,024 | #170 of 713 | #11 of 70 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #292 of 601 | #10 of 65 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 17.9% | #404 of 604 | #55 of 65 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 93.1% | #231 of 619 | #52 of 67 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.8% | #143 of 221 | #23 of 31 |
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
1,024
+7 (+1%) vs 2020
+540% since 2000-01, when it was 160
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
was 14.1:1
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 | 1,024 | 74 | 13.8:1 | 93% (953) |
| 2023-24 | 953 | 83 | 11.5:1 | 100% (950) |
| 2022-23 | 934 | 85 | 11.0:1 | N/A |
| 2020-21 | 1,017 | 72 | 14.1:1 | 99% (1,011) |
| 2017-18 | 977 | 61.4 | 15.9:1 | N/A |
| 2015-16 | 989 | 34 | 29.1:1 | 100% (989) |
| 2010-11 | 504 | 23 | 21.9:1 | 43% (215) |
| 2000-01 | 160 | 10 | 16.0:1 | 0% (0) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Freire CS.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (977 to 1,024); teachers up 21% (61.4 to 74).
About Freire CS
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Freire CS is a medium-sized high school. The school's 1,024 students are in grades 5 through 12. Enrollment is 39% higher than the average for high schools in Pennsylvania, which is about 738.
The school serves as its own district in federal records.
Freire CS's enrollment is 90% Black. The next largest groups are 4% multiracial and 4% Hispanic. The school's Black share is 51 points above the 39% share among Philadelphia County residents. Pick two students at random and there is an 18% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Federal staffing data show 74 full-time-equivalent teachers at Freire CS and a ratio of 13.8:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 93% of enrollment. That tracks the 95% average for public schools in Philadelphia County.
Freire CS is graded D by allk12, scoring above 12% of Pennsylvania public high schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Freire CS, the prediction is 37.7% and the result is 23.9%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Philadelphia County show that 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 Freire CS, Philadelphia County has 308 other public schools.
The school nearest to Freire CS is Greenfield Albert M School, at a distance of about 0.2 miles. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. On average proficiency, Freire CS is 6th of 8 nearby schools with test data.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Large: inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more. Freire CS is one of the charter schools in Pennsylvania.
Enrollment at Freire CS was 1,017 in 2020-21 and 1,024 in 2024-25, a change of less than 3%.
Threads on this page can be about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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
- 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
- Greenfield Albert M School0.2 mi · 742
- Russell Byers CS0.3 mi · 686
- Philadelphia Electrical & Technology CHS0.4 mi · 629
- Independence CS0.6 mi · 796
- Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy0.7 mi · 338
- Stanton Edwin M School0.9 mi · 329
Frequently asked questions
About Freire CSHow large is Freire CS?
Freire CS enrolls approximately 1,024 students in grades 05-12.
What age range does Freire CS serve?
Freire CS serves students from grade 05 through grade 12.
How many students per teacher at Freire CS?
Approximately 13.8:1 students per teacher at Freire CS.
How diverse is Freire CS?
Freire CS reports a student body of 1% White, 4% Hispanic, 90% Black, 0% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Freire CS in?
Freire CS is part of Freire CS.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.