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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Garden Spot SHS this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
865
High
DISTRICT 514 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·EASTERN LANCASTER COUNTY SD·NCES 420882002554
Garden Spot SHS
669 E Main St, New Holland, PA 17557 · (717) 354-1555 · Lancaster County
GRADES 09–12HIGH21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL865 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 80% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+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
13.4:1
64 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.6:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
48%
417 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 7 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 8 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 9 | 263 | 30% |
| Grade 10 | 218 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 206 | 24% |
| Grade 12 | 176 | 20% |
Student demographics
40%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
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
69.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -3.1pp since 2023
Math
53.6%
PA avg 43.0% . -7.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 70 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 54 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 8 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 69.8% | 53.6% |
| 2023-24 | 72.9% | 61.5% |
% 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
62.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.9%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 62% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 57% 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 Garden Spot SHS
Garden Spot SHS's state test result (62.5% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden Spot SHS this school | 865 | 48.2% | 62.5% |
| Donegal High School Mount Joy | 955 | 45.5% | 51.0% |
| Chambersburg Area Career Magnet School Chambersburg | 706 | 47.6% | 55.3% |
| Bangor Area High School Bangor | 883 | 50.6% | 61.2% |
| Gettysburg Area High School Gettysburg | 1,069 | 44.2% | 61.7% |
| Pittston Area SHS Pittston | 1,055 | 53.9% | 42.6% |
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 Garden Spot SHS ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lancaster County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 62.5% | #136 of 576 | #8 of 17 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 53.6% | #173 of 626 ▼ 91 | #9 of 18 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 69.8% | #166 of 626 ▼ 20 | #8 of 18 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 865 | #217 of 713 | #14 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.4:1 | #264 of 601 | #4 of 17 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 39.8% | #226 of 604 | #9 of 17 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.2% | #373 of 619 | #7 of 17 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -17.1% | #70 of 373 | #1 of 10 |
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
865
-71 (-8%) vs 2020
-3% since 1990-91, when it was 892
Student : Teacher
13.4:1
was 13.6:1
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 | 865 | 64.3 | 13.4:1 | 48% (417) |
| 2023-24 | 914 | 65.9 | 13.9:1 | 46% (417) |
| 2022-23 | 926 | 68.6 | 13.5:1 | 39% (363) |
| 2020-21 | 936 | 69 | 13.6:1 | 32% (297) |
| 2017-18 | 1,044 | 68 | 15.3:1 | 34% (355) |
| 2015-16 | 994 | 68 | 14.6:1 | 37% (364) |
| 2010-11 | 1,033 | 70 | 14.8:1 | 21% (216) |
| 2000-01 | 1,098 | 75 | 14.6:1 | 18% (196) |
| 1990-91 | 892 | 66 | 13.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Garden Spot SHS.
Since 2017-18: students down 17% (1,044 to 865); teachers down 5% (68 to 64.3).
About Garden Spot SHS
Garden Spot SHS is a public high school run by Eastern Lancaster County SD in New Holland, Pennsylvania. There are 865 students enrolled, covering grades 9 through 12.
Eastern Lancaster County SD is the local district for Garden Spot SHS. It runs 5 schools with 2,568 students.
More than half of the students at Garden Spot SHS are White (76%). Other reported shares: 14% Hispanic, 4% Black, 3% Asian, and 3% multiracial. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 40%.
Garden Spot SHS has a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.4:1, with 64.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. The 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania is close to this figure. The school has 48% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Garden Spot SHS holds an A- allk12 Grade, placing it above 80% of Pennsylvania public high schools.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Garden Spot SHS falls in the middle 80% of Pennsylvania schools: 62.5% actual against 56.9% predicted.
For the population of Lancaster County, median household income comes to about $86,959, roughly 32% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Lancaster County counts 114 public schools with about 62,719 students.
The closest school to Garden Spot SHS is Garden Spot Middle School, located less than a tenth of a mile away. Garden Spot SHS is one of several public schools in the area, with 3 others within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Garden Spot SHS at 2nd of 8.
The school's locale code, Suburb: Large, means it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment decreased by 8% across 4 years, from 936 in 2020-21 to 865 in 2024-25.
Garden Spot SHS has a community page on allk12 for topics such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
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
- New Holland ElementaryElementary · 484 students
- Brecknock Elementary SchoolElementary · 441 students
- Garden Spot Middle SchoolMiddle · 404 students
- Blue Ball Elementary SchoolElementary · 374 students
Other schools in New Holland
- New Holland ElementaryElementary · 484 students
- Garden Spot Middle SchoolMiddle · 404 students
Nearby schools
- Garden Spot Middle School0.0 mi · 404
- 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 SHSWhat is the total enrollment at Garden Spot SHS?
Garden Spot SHS enrolls approximately 865 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Garden Spot SHS serve?
Garden Spot SHS serves grades 09-12.
How many students per teacher at Garden Spot SHS?
Approximately 13.4:1 students per teacher at Garden Spot SHS.
What is the student diversity at Garden Spot SHS?
Student demographics at Garden Spot SHS are roughly 76% White, 14% Hispanic, 4% Black, 3% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Garden Spot SHS?
Garden Spot SHS is overseen by Eastern Lancaster County SD in Lancaster County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.