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How has Heights/Murray El Sch changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
838
Elementary
DISTRICT 626 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WILKES-BARRE AREA SD·NCES 422630006923
Heights/Murray Elementary School
1 S Sherman St, Wilkes Barre, PA 18702 · (570) 826-7256 · Luzerne County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL838 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 22% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.5:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
101%
843 students
DISTRICT 97% · 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, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 159 | 19% |
| Grade 1 | 152 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 151 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 135 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 103 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 138 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (159) is 15% larger than its 5th grade class (138).
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
27.0%
PA avg 51.1% . -1.1pp since 2023
Math
30.3%
PA avg 43.0% . +7.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 27 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 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 1 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 8 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 27.0% | 30.3% |
| 2023-24 | 28.1% | 22.4% |
% 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
31.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.5%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 32% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 34% 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 →
Where Heights/Murray Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Luzerne County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 31.5% | #1,159 of 1,396 | #21 of 27 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 30.3% | #1,147 of 1,511 ▲ 83 | #17 of 27 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 27.0% | #1,255 of 1,511 ▲ 51 | #23 of 27 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 838 | #64 of 1,638 | #8 of 38 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.9:1 | #1,454 of 1,528 | #24 of 33 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.1% | #363 of 1,531 | #8 of 33 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 101% | #276 of 1,600 | #6 of 37 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +1.9% | #391 of 450 | #17 of 18 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
838
-46 (-5%) vs 2020
+3% since 1990-91, when it was 814
Student : Teacher
16.9:1
was 18.0:1
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 | 838 | 49.7 | 16.9:1 | N/A |
| 2023-24 | 843 | 45.5 | 18.5:1 | 100% (843) |
| 2022-23 | 837 | 44.7 | 18.7:1 | 100% (837) |
| 2020-21 | 884 | 49 | 18.0:1 | 100% (881) |
| 2017-18 | 822 | 49.9 | 16.5:1 | 100% (822) |
| 2015-16 | 786 | 53 | 14.8:1 | 100% (786) |
| 2010-11 | 741 | 51 | 14.5:1 | 85% (630) |
| 2000-01 | 623 | 38 | 16.4:1 | 60% (376) |
| 1990-91 | 814 | 5 | 162.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Heights/Murray Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 2% (822 to 838); teachers unchanged (49.9 to 49.7).
About Heights/Murray Elementary School
The public elementary school Heights/Murray Elementary School is located in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. The school offers kindergarten through 5 and enrolls 838 students. The school is 89% above the average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania.
Wilkes-Barre Area SD is responsible for 10 schools, Heights/Murray Elementary School included, with 8,277 students in all.
Federal enrollment data show Heights/Murray Elementary School is 60% Hispanic. Next come 18% Black, 11% White, and 9% multiracial. The county population is about 17% Hispanic. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 58%.
For every teacher at Heights/Murray Elementary School, there are about 16.9 students; the school has 49.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania is 13.1:1, so this school has more students per teacher.
On the allk12 Grade, Heights/Murray Elementary School lands at C-, ahead of 22% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Heights/Murray Elementary School's actual average proficiency rate across its state test results (31.5%) and its predicted rate (34.5%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Pennsylvania schools.
In Luzerne County, the median household earns about $63,691 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 25%, and about 11% of people live in poverty. Luzerne County has 65 public schools with about 45,209 students, including Heights/Murray Elementary School.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, G A R Middle School, is about 0.5 miles. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Heights/Murray Elementary School is 4th among 7 schools close by.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is City: Small.
Enrollment in 2024-25 stood at 838, compared with 884 in 2020-21. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio dropped to 16.9:1, from 18.0:1.
This page collects posts and questions about Heights/Murray Elementary School, such as fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Luzerne County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
327,675
Census ACS
Median income
$63,691
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
25%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
65
45,209 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Wilkes-Barre Area SD
- Wilkes-Barre Area High SchoolHigh · 2,569 students
- G A R Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,101 students
- Dr David W Kistler Elementary SchoolElementary · 961 students
- Solomon/Plains Middle SchoolMiddle · 758 students
- Solomon/Plains Elementary SchoolElementary · 718 students
- Daniel J Flood Elementary SchoolElementary · 616 students
Other schools in Wilkes Barre
- Dr David W Kistler Elementary SchoolElementary · 961 students
- Daniel J Flood Elementary SchoolElementary · 616 students
- Dodson Elementary SchoolElementary · 522 students
Nearby schools
- G A R Middle School0.5 mi · 1,101
- Dodson Elementary School0.7 mi · 522
- Daniel J Flood Elementary School1.1 mi · 616
- Wolfpack Early Learning Academy1.1 mi · 101
- Third Avenue Elementary School1.4 mi · 97
- Wyoming Valley West Middle School1.8 mi · 1,139
Frequently asked questions
About Heights/Murray Elementary SchoolHow large is Heights/Murray Elementary School?
Heights/Murray Elementary School enrolls approximately 838 students in grades KG-05.
Is Heights/Murray Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Heights/Murray Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Heights/Murray Elementary School have?
Heights/Murray Elementary School employs 50 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.9:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Heights/Murray Elementary School?
At Heights/Murray Elementary School, the student body is approximately 11% White, 60% Hispanic, 18% Black, 0% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Is Heights/Murray Elementary School public or private?
Heights/Murray Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Wilkes-Barre Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.