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If you had an hour of school board time for Independence MS, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
602
Middle
DISTRICT 600 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BETHEL PARK SD·NCES 420351000061
Independence Middle School
2807 Bethel Church Rd, Bethel Park, PA 15102 · (412) 854-8677 · Allegheny County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL602 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 77% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- ATest 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.1:1
54 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.6:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
19%
115 students
DISTRICT 19% · 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 | 301 | 50% |
| Grade 8 | 301 | 50% |
Student demographics
26%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 28% · 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
Independence Middle School→Bethel Park High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Bethel Park SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
65.7%
PA avg 51.1% . -9.5pp since 2023
Math
54.7%
PA avg 43.0% . +2.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 66 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 55 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 | 65.7% | 54.7% |
| 2023-24 | 75.2% | 52.3% |
% 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
63.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
69.4%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 64% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 69% 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 Independence Middle School
Independence Middle School's state test result (63.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence Middle School this school | 602 | 19.1% | 63.9% |
| Neil Armstrong 5-6 Middle School Bethel Park | 597 | 21.9% | 67.5% |
| Jefferson Middle School Pittsburgh | 621 | 17.6% | 76.6% |
| Mellon Middle School Pittsburgh | 661 | 13.8% | 76.3% |
| Indian Valley Middle School Harleysville | 731 | 20.4% | 59.5% |
| Haine Middle School Cranberry Twp | 522 | 24.7% | 66.5% |
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 Independence Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Allegheny County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 63.9% | #78 of 479 | #21 of 47 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 54.7% | #84 of 513 ▲ 3 | #21 of 51 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 65.7% | #103 of 513 ▼ 50 | #22 of 51 ▼ 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 602 | #234 of 522 | #25 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.1:1 | #63 of 486 | #7 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 26.5% | #344 of 486 | #40 of 46 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 19.1% | #465 of 510 | #39 of 51 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -5.8% | #249 of 332 | #20 of 27 |
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
602
-31 (-5%) vs 2020
-34% since 1990-91, when it was 906
Student : Teacher
11.1:1
was 11.3:1
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 | 602 | 54.3 | 11.1:1 | 19% (115) |
| 2023-24 | 558 | 52.3 | 10.7:1 | 21% (115) |
| 2022-23 | 537 | 52.3 | 10.3:1 | 18% (97) |
| 2020-21 | 633 | 56 | 11.3:1 | 20% (126) |
| 2017-18 | 639 | 62.6 | 10.2:1 | 16% (101) |
| 2015-16 | 672 | 62 | 10.8:1 | 14% (94) |
| 2010-11 | 729 | 62 | 11.8:1 | 12% (91) |
| 2000-01 | 859 | 59 | 14.6:1 | 6% (54) |
| 1990-91 | 906 | 69 | 13.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Independence Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (639 to 602); teachers down 13% (62.6 to 54.3).
About Independence Middle School
Independence Middle School is a medium-sized middle school with an address in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. The school reports 602 students in grades 7 through 8.
Independence Middle School is one of 8 schools in Bethel Park SD, which enrolls 3,996 students in total.
At Independence Middle School, White students make up 85% of the student body. Smaller groups are 6% Asian, 4% multiracial, and 3% Black. County-wide, 76% of Allegheny County residents are White. The chance that two students picked at random at Independence Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 26%.
The school reports 54.3 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 11.1 students per teacher. For comparison, middle schools in Pennsylvania average 13.2:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 19% of students. Across public schools in Allegheny County, the average is 54%.
Measured against Pennsylvania public middle schools, Independence Middle School receives an A-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
A school with Independence Middle School's lunch-eligibility share in Pennsylvania is predicted to score 69.4%. Independence Middle School scores 63.9%, 5.6 points below that line.
Independence Middle School is located in Allegheny County, where median household income is about $78,548, roughly 46% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Federal data list 277 public schools in Allegheny County, with a combined enrollment of about 141,392.
Bethel Park High School is the closest public school, about 0.3 miles away in a straight line. Independence Middle School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Nearby schools with test data average 78.9% proficiency; Independence Middle School posts 63.9%.
Its location is classified as Suburb: Large by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The student count in 2024-25 was 602, 5% below the 633 of 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Allegheny County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,238,177
Census ACS
Median income
$78,548
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
277
141,392 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bethel Park SD
- Bethel Park High SchoolHigh · 1,244 students
- Neil Armstrong 5-6 Middle SchoolMiddle · 597 students
- Abraham Lincoln Elementary SchoolElementary · 348 students
- Bethel Memorial Elementary SchoolElementary · 342 students
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary SchoolElementary · 338 students
- George Washington Elementary SchoolElementary · 313 students
Other schools in Bethel Park
- Bethel Park High SchoolHigh · 1,244 students
- Neil Armstrong 5-6 Middle SchoolMiddle · 597 students
- Bethel Memorial Elementary SchoolElementary · 342 students
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary SchoolElementary · 338 students
- George Washington Elementary SchoolElementary · 313 students
- William Penn Elementary SchoolElementary · 212 students
Other Independence Middle schools
7 other US public schools in 7 states are named Independence Middle. Independence Middle School is the 3rd largest of the 8.
- INDEPENDENCE MIDDLE SCHOOLJUPITER, FL · 1,236 students
- Independence MiddleVirginia Beach, VA · 1,193 students
- Independence Middle SchoolCoal City, WV · 401 students
- Independence MiddleIndependence, KS · 376 students
- Independence Middle SchoolIndependence, OH · 299 students
Nearby schools
- Bethel Park High School0.3 mi · 1,244
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary School1.1 mi · 338
- Bethel Memorial Elementary School1.2 mi · 342
- Eisenhower Elementary School1.3 mi · 524
- Upper Saint Clair High School1.5 mi · 1,269
- Fort Couch Middle School1.6 mi · 647
Frequently asked questions
About Independence Middle SchoolHow many students attend Independence Middle School?
Independence Middle School enrolls approximately 602 students in grades 07-08.
What grades does Independence Middle School serve?
Independence Middle School serves grades 07-08.
How many students per teacher at Independence Middle School?
Approximately 11.1:1 students per teacher at Independence Middle School.
How diverse is Independence Middle School?
Independence Middle School reports a student body of 85% White, 1% Hispanic, 3% Black, 6% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Is Independence Middle School public or private?
Independence Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Bethel Park SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.