Enrollment
229
Elementary
DISTRICT 474 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PHILADELPHIA CITY SD·NCES 421899003743
Howe Julia Ward School
5800 N 13th St, Philadelphia, PA 19141 · (215) 400-3650 · Philadelphia County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL229 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 9% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- DTest 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
9.8:1
23 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
92%
210 students
DISTRICT 99% · STATE 75%
Community
0
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 | 36 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 41 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 37 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 42 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 41 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 32 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (36) is 13% larger than its 5th grade class (32).
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
14.7%
PA avg 51.1% . -11.4pp since 2023
Math
16.5%
PA avg 43.0% . +1.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 15 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 17 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 11 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 1 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 14.7% | 16.5% |
| 2023-24 | 26.1% | 15.2% |
% 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
20.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
38.3%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-17.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 21% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 38% 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 Howe Julia Ward School
Howe Julia Ward School's state test result (20.8% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Howe Julia Ward School this school | 229 | 91.7% | 20.8% |
| Morris Robert School Philadelphia | 215 | 93.0% | 19.2% |
| Stetser Elementary School Chester | 251 | 92.0% | 24.7% |
| Ludlow James R School Philadelphia | 215 | 94.4% | 16.3% |
| Logan James School Philadelphia | 264 | 92.4% | 30.1% |
| Kearny Gen Philip School Philadelphia | 189 | 87.8% | 21.7% |
Matched among Pennsylvania elementary 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 Howe Julia Ward School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Philadelphia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 20.8% | #1,283 of 1,396 | #95 of 161 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 16.5% | #1,333 of 1,511 ▼ 11 | #84 of 193 ▼ 7 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 14.7% | #1,435 of 1,511 ▼ 103 | #157 of 193 ▼ 59 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 229 | #1,466 of 1,638 | #179 of 194 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 9.8:1 | #67 of 1,528 | #21 of 189 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.2% | #880 of 1,531 | #104 of 189 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 91.7% | #637 of 1,600 | #163 of 193 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -1.3% | #996 of 1,045 | #129 of 135 |
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
229
-7 (-3%) vs 2020
-56% since 1990-91, when it was 519
Student : Teacher
9.8:1
was 13.1:1
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 | 229 | 23.4 | 9.8:1 | 92% (210) |
| 2023-24 | 210 | 21.3 | 9.9:1 | 100% (210) |
| 2022-23 | 206 | 21.3 | 9.7:1 | 100% (206) |
| 2020-21 | 236 | 18 | 13.1:1 | 99% (233) |
| 2017-18 | 232 | 15.5 | 15.0:1 | 100% (232) |
| 2015-16 | 259 | 17 | 15.2:1 | 100% (259) |
| 2010-11 | 322 | 22 | 14.6:1 | 99% (319) |
| 2000-01 | 405 | 22 | 18.4:1 | 88% (355) |
| 1990-91 | 519 | 26 | 20.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Howe Julia Ward School.
Since 2017-18: students down 1% (232 to 229); teachers up 51% (15.5 to 23.4).
About Howe Julia Ward School
Howe Julia Ward School is an elementary school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to federal school records. Enrolled students number 229 students, in kindergarten through 5. Statewide, elementary schools in Pennsylvania average about 443 students each.
The 220 schools in Philadelphia City SD enroll 116,230 students altogether, Howe Julia Ward School among them.
At 79%, Black students outnumber all other groups at Howe Julia Ward School combined. Smaller groups are 15% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. County-wide, 39% of Philadelphia County residents are Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Howe Julia Ward School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 35%.
The teaching staff at Howe Julia Ward School is 23.4 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 9.8:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in Pennsylvania is 13.1:1, higher than at this school. About 92% of students, or 210, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Across public schools in Philadelphia County, the average is about the same, 95%.
Measured against Pennsylvania public elementary schools, Howe Julia Ward School receives a D. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Test results at Howe Julia Ward School are 17.5 points below what its student poverty level predicts. The average proficiency rate on state tests is 20.8%, compared with a predicted 38.3%, which ranks in the bottom 10% in Pennsylvania.
Howe Julia Ward School is located in Philadelphia County, where median household income is about $61,953, roughly 35% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 17% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 309 public schools in Philadelphia County, with a combined enrollment of about 182,005.
The closest other public school is Girls High School, about 0.3 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Howe Julia Ward School at 4th of 7.
NCES assigns Howe Julia Ward School the locale City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Howe Julia Ward School went from 236 students to 229. The ratio was 13.1:1 in 2020-21 and 9.8:1 in 2024-25.
Posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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 City SD
- Northeast High SchoolHigh · 3,463 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,472 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 2,329 students
- Northeast Community Propel AcademyElementary · 1,783 students
- Mayfair SchoolElementary · 1,763 students
- Washington George High SchoolHigh · 1,755 students
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
- Girls High School0.3 mi · 592
- Widener Memorial School0.4 mi · 141
- Pennell Joseph School0.5 mi · 301
- Central High School0.5 mi · 2,329
- Prince Hall School0.6 mi · 360
- Lowell James R School0.7 mi · 503
Frequently asked questions
About Howe Julia Ward SchoolHow many students attend Howe Julia Ward School?
Howe Julia Ward School enrolls approximately 229 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Howe Julia Ward School serve?
Howe Julia Ward School serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Howe Julia Ward School?
Approximately 9.8:1 students per teacher at Howe Julia Ward School.
How diverse is Howe Julia Ward School?
Howe Julia Ward School reports a student body of 0% White, 15% Hispanic, 79% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Howe Julia Ward School in?
Howe Julia Ward School is part of Philadelphia City SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.