Enrollment
308
Elementary
DISTRICT 203 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BENTON AREA SD·NCES 420339001594
L R Appleman El Sch
525 Park Street, Benton, PA 17814 · (570) 925-6971 · Columbia County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL308 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
9.8:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.3:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
305 students
DISTRICT 98% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. 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
Based on grade levels within Benton Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
67.1%
PA avg 51.1% . -1.6pp since 2023
Math
72.0%
PA avg 43.0% . +7.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 67 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 72 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 8 points.
Source: PSSA + Keystone. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
70.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
35.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+35.8pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 35% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 36 points, placing it in Pennsylvania's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
308
-79 (-20%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
9.8:1
was 11.9:1
% White
95%
was 94%
% Hispanic
3%
was 3%
% Black
1%
was 1%
% Asian
0%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About L R Appleman El Sch
Located at 525 Park Street, in Benton, Pennsylvania, L R Appleman El Sch is a cozy elementary school that educates 308 students (grades K through 6), run under Benton Area SD. That puts it 30% below the typical public school in Pennsylvania, which averages around 443 students.
Benton Area SD comprises 3 schools with combined enrollment of 608 students; L R Appleman El Sch is among them.
For racial and ethnic makeup, L R Appleman El Sch logs that nearly all students (95%) are White; the rest looks like 3% Hispanic. That composition is broadly in line with Columbia County as a whole.
On the income-and-resources front, On paper, L R Appleman El Sch has 31 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 9.8:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.1:1 average. About 99% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, Columbia County runs at roughly 56%, so the school's eligibility rate is above the surrounding baseline.
On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), L R Appleman El Sch is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 35.1%; this one delivers 70.9%, a residual of +35.8 points.
Around the school, the surrounding county (Columbia County) reports that median household income runs about $64,644, about 27% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 8%. L R Appleman El Sch is one of 20 public schools in Columbia County (combined enrollment of about 7,501 students).
Nearest neighbor: Benton Area HS, around 0.2 miles off. 2 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, L R Appleman El Sch comes 1st of 8 in the immediate cluster, above the nearby-schools average of 48.5%.
The campus sits in a small-town setting.
Trend over the last 7 years. L R Appleman El Sch's enrollment has shrank 20% since 2018, when it stood at 387 (now 308). The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 11.9:1 in 2018 to 9.8:1 today.
In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on school events, parent volunteer needs, and clubs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Columbia County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
65,362
Census ACS
Median income
$64,644
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
27%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
20
7,501 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Benton Area SD
- Benton Area HSHigh · 200 students
- Benton Area MSMiddle · 100 students
Other schools in Benton
- Benton Area HSHigh · 200 students
- Benton Area MSMiddle · 100 students
Nearby schools
- Benton Area HS0.2 mi · 200
- Benton Area MS0.2 mi · 100
- Northwest Area Primary Sch7.6 mi · 215
- Millville Area Elementary School9.3 mi · 291
- Millville Area JSHS9.3 mi · 234
- Northwest Area HS9.9 mi · 406
Frequently asked questions
About L R Appleman El SchHow many students attend L R Appleman El Sch?
L R Appleman El Sch enrolls approximately 308 students in grades KG-06.
Is L R Appleman El Sch an elementary, middle, or high school?
L R Appleman El Sch is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many students per teacher at L R Appleman El Sch?
Approximately 9.8:1 students per teacher at L R Appleman El Sch.
What is the student diversity at L R Appleman El Sch?
Student demographics at L R Appleman El Sch are roughly 95% White, 3% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian.
What district is L R Appleman El Sch in?
L R Appleman El Sch is part of Benton Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.