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Best kept secret at Kathryn D. Markley El Sch?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
426
Elementary
DISTRICT 458 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·GREAT VALLEY SD·NCES 421087006479
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School
354 Swedesford Rd, Malvern, PA 19355 · (610) 644-1790 · Chester County
GRADES KG–04ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL426 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 80% of Pennsylvania public elementary 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
38 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.1:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
37%
159 students
DISTRICT 25% · 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 | 69 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 92 | 22% |
| Grade 2 | 87 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 92 | 22% |
| Grade 4 | 86 | 20% |
This year's kindergarten class (69) is 20% smaller than its 4th grade class (86).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 64% · 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
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School→Great Valley 5/6 Center→Great Valley Middle School→Great Valley High School
Based on grade levels within Great Valley SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
65.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -2.7pp since 2023
Math
71.1%
PA avg 43.0% . +4.5pp 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 71 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 up about 5 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 65.8% | 71.1% |
| 2023-24 | 68.5% | 66.6% |
% 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
70.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.6%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 62% 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 Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School's state test result (70.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School this school | 426 | 37.3% | 70.6% |
| Fred J. Jaindl Elementary School Breinigsville | 433 | 27.5% | 80.0% |
| Silver Spring Elementary School Mechanicsburg | 528 | 30.9% | 67.1% |
| Woodland Elementary School Norristown | 427 | 22.2% | 73.6% |
| Green Ridge Elementary School Mechanicsburg | 474 | 29.3% | 79.9% |
| Caley Elementary School King of Prussia | 372 | 40.9% | 69.4% |
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 Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Chester County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.6% | #282 of 1,396 | #30 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.1% | #256 of 1,511 ▲ 53 | #27 of 56 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 65.8% | #290 of 1,511 ▲ 88 | #29 of 56 ▲ 9 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 426 | #772 of 1,638 | #41 of 62 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.3:1 | #270 of 1,528 | #9 of 60 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.7% | #124 of 1,531 | #5 of 60 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.3% | #1,200 of 1,600 | #17 of 61 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -32.6% | #90 of 1,045 | #3 of 40 |
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
426
-159 (-27%) vs 2020
-32% since 1990-91, when it was 623
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
was 12.7:1
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 | 426 | 37.6 | 11.3:1 | 37% (159) |
| 2023-24 | 668 | 51.2 | 13.1:1 | 24% (159) |
| 2022-23 | 654 | 48.2 | 13.6:1 | 23% (148) |
| 2020-21 | 585 | 46 | 12.7:1 | 21% (120) |
| 2017-18 | 632 | 47.3 | 13.4:1 | 18% (113) |
| 2015-16 | 529 | 41 | 12.9:1 | 14% (72) |
| 2010-11 | 572 | 35 | 16.3:1 | 9% (53) |
| 2000-01 | 585 | 41 | 14.3:1 | 8% (46) |
| 1990-91 | 623 | 36 | 17.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 33% (632 to 426); teachers down 21% (47.3 to 37.6).
About Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School
A mid-sized elementary school in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School is part of Great Valley SD. The school has 426 students in 2024-25 across kindergarten through 4.
Great Valley SD is made up of 7 schools with 4,822 students in all.
White students make up 40% of enrollment at Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School, the largest share of any group. The next largest groups are 35% Asian, 17% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 3% Black. In Chester County overall, about 77% of residents are White. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 69, compared with 70 nationally.
On staff are 37.6 full-time-equivalent teachers; the student-to-teacher ratio is 11.3:1. The average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania is 13.1:1, so this school has fewer students per teacher. About 37% of students at Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Chester County average a similar 38%.
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School holds an A- allk12 Grade, placing it above 80% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School would score about 61.6%. It scores 70.6%, 9.0 points above that figure.
American Community Survey estimates for Chester County show that the median household earns about $127,208 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 57%, and roughly 4% of residents are in poverty. Across Chester County, 111 public schools serve about 83,468 students.
Great Valley 5/6 Center is less than a tenth of a mile from Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School, the shortest distance to any other public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Of the 8 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School is 6th on average proficiency.
On the NCES locale scale, the school is Suburb: Large.
In 2024-25, the school enrolled 426, down from 585 in 2020-21. Students per teacher dropped from 12.7 in 2020-21 to 11.3 in 2024-25.
This community page is for conversations about open houses, carpools, and field trips. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Chester County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
547,840
Census ACS
Median income
$127,208
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
111
83,468 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Great Valley SD
- Great Valley High SchoolHigh · 1,481 students
- Great Valley 5/6 CenterMiddle · 756 students
- Great Valley Middle SchoolMiddle · 754 students
- General Wayne Elementary SchoolElementary · 542 students
- Sugartown Elementary SchoolElementary · 449 students
- Charlestown Elementary SchoolElementary · 414 students
Other schools in Malvern
- Great Valley High SchoolHigh · 1,481 students
- Great Valley 5/6 CenterMiddle · 756 students
- Great Valley Middle SchoolMiddle · 754 students
- General Wayne Elementary SchoolElementary · 542 students
- Sugartown Elementary SchoolElementary · 449 students
- Charlestown Elementary SchoolElementary · 414 students
Nearby schools
- Great Valley 5/6 Center0.1 mi · 756
- Great Valley High School1.1 mi · 1,481
- Great Valley Middle School1.1 mi · 754
- Charlestown Elementary School2.6 mi · 414
- Sugartown Elementary School2.7 mi · 449
- General Wayne Elementary School3.5 mi · 542
Frequently asked questions
About Kathryn D. Markley Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School?
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School enrolls approximately 426 students in grades KG-04.
Is Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-04.
How many students per teacher at Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School?
Approximately 11.3:1 students per teacher at Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School?
At Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School, the student body is approximately 40% White, 17% Hispanic, 3% Black, 35% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School public or private?
Kathryn D. Markley Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Great Valley SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.