1
What clubs or activities at Highland MS are worth joining?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
698
Middle
DISTRICT 578 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BLACKHAWK SD·NCES 420368806558
Highland Middle School
402 Shenango Rd, Beaver Falls, PA 15010 · (724) 843-1700 · Beaver County
GRADES 05–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL698 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 26% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- C+Test 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
15.2:1
46 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.7:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
36%
252 students
DISTRICT 36% · 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 5 | 169 | 24% |
| Grade 6 | 188 | 27% |
| Grade 7 | 171 | 24% |
| Grade 8 | 170 | 24% |
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 16% · 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
Highland Middle School→Blackhawk High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Blackhawk SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
41.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -9.8pp since 2023
Math
40.7%
PA avg 43.0% . +1.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 42 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 41 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 10 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 41.8% | 40.7% |
| 2023-24 | 51.6% | 39.0% |
% 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
43.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
62.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-18.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 62% 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 Highland Middle School
Highland Middle School's state test result (43.8% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Middle School this school | 698 | 36.1% | 43.8% |
| North Pocono Middle School Moscow | 685 | 35.9% | 55.0% |
| Greencastle-Antrim Middle School Greencastle | 729 | 37.0% | 56.5% |
| James W Parker Middle School Edinboro | 652 | 39.4% | 64.0% |
| Bellefonte Area Middle School Bellefonte | 591 | 36.0% | 51.1% |
| Dallas Middle School Dallas | 589 | 36.2% | 52.9% |
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 Highland Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Beaver County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.8% | #300 of 479 | #5 of 11 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 40.7% | #203 of 513 ▲ 12 | #4 of 11 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.8% | #378 of 513 ▼ 59 | #6 of 11 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 698 | #171 of 522 | #1 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #419 of 486 | #7 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 18.0% | #400 of 486 | #7 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 36.1% | #373 of 510 | #9 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.1% | #244 of 332 | #7 of 7 |
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
698
-36 (-5%) vs 2020
0% since 1990-91, when it was 696
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 15.6:1
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 | 698 | 45.8 | 15.2:1 | 36% (252) |
| 2023-24 | 699 | 44.8 | 15.6:1 | 36% (252) |
| 2022-23 | 700 | 46.9 | 14.9:1 | 35% (247) |
| 2020-21 | 734 | 47 | 15.6:1 | 31% (225) |
| 2017-18 | 743 | 42.8 | 17.4:1 | 28% (207) |
| 2015-16 | 565 | 36 | 15.7:1 | 28% (156) |
| 2010-11 | 408 | 28 | 14.6:1 | 23% (93) |
| 2000-01 | 466 | 27 | 17.3:1 | 16% (74) |
| 1990-91 | 696 | 40 | 17.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Highland Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (743 to 698); teachers up 7% (42.8 to 45.8).
About Highland Middle School
Highland Middle School is a medium-sized middle-grades school in Pennsylvania, with an address in Beaver Falls. Enrollment in 2024-25 was 698 students in grades 5 through 8.
Besides Highland Middle School, Blackhawk SD runs 3 other schools. The district enrolls 2,310 students.
White students are the large majority at Highland Middle School, with 90% of enrollment. The next largest groups are 4% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. The White share in Beaver County as a whole is similar, at about 87%. The chance that two students picked at random at Highland Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 18%.
Teachers at Highland Middle School total 45.8 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 15.2:1. The 13.2:1 average for middle schools in Pennsylvania is lower than this school's figure. The school counts 252 students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or 36%. Among public schools in Beaver County, the average eligibility rate is 55%.
allk12 grades Highland Middle School a C. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
Highland Middle School posts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 43.8%. Schools with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Pennsylvania are predicted to post 62.1%, so the school is 18.3 points behind and in the state's bottom 10%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Beaver County show that median household income is about $71,089, 29% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Federal data list 52 public schools in Beaver County, with a combined enrollment of about 31,222.
Blackhawk Intermediate School is located about 0.7 miles from Highland Middle School. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. The nearest schools with test data average 52.9%, higher than Highland Middle School's 43.8%.
Highland Middle School falls in the Suburb: Large locale category, used for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Highland Middle School saw enrollment fall 5% between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
To ask about school safety, transportation, and start times, start a discussion on this page. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Beaver County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
166,324
Census ACS
Median income
$71,089
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
29%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
52
31,222 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Blackhawk SD
- Blackhawk High SchoolHigh · 763 students
- Blackhawk Intermediate SchoolElementary · 708 students
- Patterson Primary SchoolElementary · 141 students
Other schools in Beaver Falls
- Blackhawk High SchoolHigh · 763 students
- Blackhawk Intermediate SchoolElementary · 708 students
- Beaver Falls Area SHSHigh · 486 students
- Central Elementary SchoolElementary · 466 students
- Beaver Falls Middle SchoolMiddle · 360 students
- Patterson Primary SchoolElementary · 141 students
Other Highland Middle schools
17 other US public schools in 13 states are named Highland Middle. Highland Middle School is the 9th largest of the 18.
- Highland Middle SchoolAnderson, IN · 916 students
- Highland Middle SchoolMedina, OH · 824 students
- HIGHLAND MIDDLE SCHOOLHOBBS, NM · 808 students
- Highland Middle SchoolHighland, IN · 774 students
- Highland MiddleSanford, NC · 762 students
Nearby schools
- Blackhawk Intermediate School0.7 mi · 708
- Blackhawk High School1.6 mi · 763
- Patterson Primary School2.1 mi · 141
- Beaver Falls Area SHS2.7 mi · 486
- Central Elementary School2.7 mi · 466
- Beaver Falls Middle School2.7 mi · 360
Frequently asked questions
About Highland Middle SchoolHow large is Highland Middle School?
Highland Middle School enrolls approximately 698 students in grades 05-08.
Is Highland Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Highland Middle School is a middle school covering grades 05-08.
How many teachers does Highland Middle School have?
Highland Middle School employs 46 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.2:1.
What is the student diversity at Highland Middle School?
Student demographics at Highland Middle School are roughly 90% White, 4% Hispanic, 2% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Highland Middle School in?
Highland Middle School is part of Blackhawk SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.