1
What's something Garden Spot MS does better than most schools?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
404
Middle
DISTRICT 514 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EASTERN LANCASTER COUNTY SD·NCES 420882007267
Garden Spot Middle School
669 E Main St # 609, New Holland, PA 17557 · (717) 354-1561 · Lancaster County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL404 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 21% of Pennsylvania public middle 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.6:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
43%
174 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 | 229 | 57% |
| Grade 8 | 175 | 43% |
Student demographics
39%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 39% · 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
Garden Spot Middle School→Garden Spot SHS
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Eastern Lancaster County SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
42.9%
PA avg 51.1% . -0.7pp since 2023
Math
26.9%
PA avg 43.0% . -10.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 27 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are down about 11 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 42.9% | 26.9% |
| 2023-24 | 43.6% | 37.8% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
39.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
59.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 59% 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 Garden Spot Middle School
Garden Spot Middle School's state test result (39.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden Spot Middle School this school | 404 | 43.1% | 39.8% |
| Delaware Valley Middle School Milford | 466 | 43.6% | 53.2% |
| Pennridge South Middle School Perkasie | 332 | 44.9% | 46.5% |
| Marticville Middle School Pequea | 393 | 48.1% | 57.5% |
| 6th Grade Center Quakertown | 331 | 37.5% | 37.0% |
| Bloomsburg Area Middle School Bloomsburg | 380 | 50.0% | 50.1% |
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 Garden Spot Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lancaster County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 39.8% | #344 of 479 | #18 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 26.9% | #360 of 513 ▼ 128 | #17 of 26 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 42.9% | #365 of 513 ▲ 27 | #18 of 26 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 404 | #370 of 522 | #20 of 26 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.3:1 | #79 of 486 | #8 of 26 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 38.9% | #249 of 486 | #17 of 26 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 43.1% | #320 of 510 | #16 of 24 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.4% | #114 of 332 | #6 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
404
-48 (-11%) vs 2020
-13% since 1990-91, when it was 467
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
was 15.1:1
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 | 404 | 35.7 | 11.3:1 | 43% (174) |
| 2023-24 | 392 | 33.1 | 11.9:1 | 44% (174) |
| 2022-23 | 436 | 32.4 | 13.5:1 | 47% (205) |
| 2020-21 | 452 | 30 | 15.1:1 | 38% (174) |
| 2017-18 | 472 | 35.1 | 13.4:1 | 42% (196) |
| 2015-16 | 509 | 32 | 15.9:1 | 39% (197) |
| 2010-11 | 460 | 35 | 13.1:1 | 27% (125) |
| 2000-01 | 599 | 39 | 15.4:1 | 0% (0) |
| 1990-91 | 467 | 31 | 15.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Garden Spot Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (472 to 404); teachers up 2% (35.1 to 35.7).
About Garden Spot Middle School
Garden Spot Middle School is a low-enrollment middle school in New Holland, Pennsylvania, administered by Eastern Lancaster County SD. The school teaches grades 7 through 8 and enrolls 404 students. The school is 32% below the average for middle schools in Pennsylvania.
Federal data list 5 schools in Eastern Lancaster County SD, with 2,568 students enrolled.
The student body at Garden Spot Middle School is 77% White. It is also 12% Hispanic, 4% Black, 4% Asian, and 3% multiracial. A diversity index of 39% means there is a 39% chance two randomly chosen students at Garden Spot Middle School are from different groups.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 11.3:1. The school has 35.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. Across middle schools in Pennsylvania, the average ratio is 13.2:1. Federal data show 43% of students (174) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Among public schools in Lancaster County, the average eligibility rate is 55%.
Garden Spot Middle School earns a C- on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 21% of Pennsylvania public middle schools.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Garden Spot Middle School would score about 59.1%. It scores 39.8%, a bottom-10% result among Pennsylvania schools on BeatsExpectations.
The school is in Lancaster County, where median household income comes to about $86,959, about 32% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 5%. Across Lancaster County, 114 public schools serve about 62,719 students.
A public school less than a tenth of a mile away, Garden Spot SHS, is the closest to Garden Spot Middle School. Inside a five-mile radius, there are 3 other public schools. The nearest schools with test data average 54.1%, higher than Garden Spot Middle School's 39.8%.
Garden Spot Middle School is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more, a location NCES labels Suburb: Large.
Over 4 years, enrollment fell by 48 students, from 452 to 404. Students per teacher dropped from 15.1 in 2020-21 to 11.3 in 2024-25.
People can post here about homework, tutoring, and testing dates and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Eastern Lancaster County SD
- Garden Spot SHSHigh · 865 students
- New Holland ElementaryElementary · 484 students
- Brecknock Elementary SchoolElementary · 441 students
- Blue Ball Elementary SchoolElementary · 374 students
Other schools in New Holland
- Garden Spot SHSHigh · 865 students
- New Holland ElementaryElementary · 484 students
Nearby schools
- Garden Spot SHS0.0 mi · 865
- Blue Ball Elementary School1.8 mi · 374
- New Holland Elementary1.9 mi · 484
- Brecknock Elementary School6.1 mi · 441
- Pequea Valley Intrmd School6.1 mi · 212
- Pequea Valley High School6.3 mi · 451
Frequently asked questions
About Garden Spot Middle SchoolHow many students attend Garden Spot Middle School?
Garden Spot Middle School enrolls approximately 404 students in grades 07-08.
Is Garden Spot Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Garden Spot Middle School is a middle school covering grades 07-08.
How many teachers does Garden Spot Middle School have?
Garden Spot Middle School employs 36 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Garden Spot Middle School?
Student demographics at Garden Spot Middle School are roughly 77% White, 12% Hispanic, 4% Black, 4% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Garden Spot Middle School public or private?
Garden Spot Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Eastern Lancaster County SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.