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What do you wish you knew before starting at Laboratory CS?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
461
Elementary
STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LABORATORY CS·NCES 420004400406
Laboratory CS
Administrative Office, Philadelphia, PA 19140 · (267) 817-4720 · Philadelphia County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYCHARTERREGULAR SCHOOL461 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 0% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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
21.9:1
21 FTE teachers
STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
39%
181 students
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 | 43 | 9% |
| Grade 1 | 40 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 47 | 10% |
| Grade 3 | 53 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 71 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 47 | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 40 | 9% |
| Grade 7 | 60 | 13% |
| Grade 8 | 60 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (43) is 28% smaller than its 8th grade class (60).
Student demographics
13%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
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
12.0%
PA avg 51.1% . -2.3pp since 2023
Math
3.1%
PA avg 43.0% . -0.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 12 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 3 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 have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 12.0% | 3.1% |
| 2023-24 | 14.3% | 3.3% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
8.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
60.8%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-51.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 9% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 61% 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 Laboratory CS
Laboratory CS's state test result (8.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laboratory CS this school | 461 | 39.3% | 8.9% |
| Wyncote Elementary School Wyncote | 373 | 43.7% | 65.0% |
| Peirce Thomas M School Philadelphia | 270 | 70.0% | 10.5% |
| Lewis C Cassidy Academics Plus School Philadelphia | 303 | 71.6% | 11.1% |
| Cheltenham Elementary School Cheltenham | 406 | 57.6% | 42.8% |
| KIPP Philadelphia Octavius Catto CS Philadelphia | 398 | 75.9% | 26.9% |
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 Laboratory CS ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Philadelphia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 8.9% | #1,385 of 1,396 | #157 of 161 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 3.1% | #1,507 of 1,511 ▼ 16 | #192 of 193 ▼ 14 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 12.0% | #1,467 of 1,511 ▲ 4 | #174 of 193 ▼ 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 461 | #648 of 1,638 | #93 of 194 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 21.9:1 | #1,523 of 1,528 | #184 of 189 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 12.7% | #1,355 of 1,531 | #170 of 189 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 39.3% | #1,179 of 1,600 | #192 of 193 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.1% | #287 of 1,045 | #91 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
461
-225 (-33%) vs 2020
+26% since 2000-01, when it was 365
Student : Teacher
21.9:1
was 15.9:1
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 | 461 | 21 | 21.9:1 | 39% (181) |
| 2023-24 | 406 | 35 | 11.6:1 | 45% (181) |
| 2022-23 | 491 | N/A | N/A | 55% (272) |
| 2020-21 | 686 | 43 | 15.9:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 577 | 23.5 | 24.6:1 | N/A |
| 2015-16 | 615 | 39 | 15.8:1 | 100% (615) |
| 2010-11 | 395 | 24 | 16.5:1 | 47% (186) |
| 2000-01 | 365 | 32 | 11.4:1 | 35% (126) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Laboratory CS.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (577 to 461); teachers down 11% (23.5 to 21).
About Laboratory CS
Laboratory CS serves students in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a medium-sized elementary school. It enrolled 461 students in kindergarten through 8 for the 2024-25 school year.
In federal data, the district for Laboratory CS is the school itself.
Federal enrollment data show Laboratory CS is 93% Black. Other groups include 5% Hispanic. The county population is about 39% Black. Laboratory CS's diversity index is 13%, against a US figure of 70%.
At Laboratory CS, 21 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 21.9:1. On average, elementary schools in Pennsylvania have 13.1:1, compared with 21.9:1 here. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 39% of enrollment. The rate at public schools in Philadelphia County averages 95%, higher than here.
The allk12 Grade for Laboratory CS is F. Compared with Pennsylvania public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 0% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Compared with Pennsylvania schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Laboratory CS scores 51.9 points lower than predicted. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 8.9%; the prediction is 60.8%.
Laboratory CS is located in Philadelphia County, where the median household income is $61,953, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and roughly 17% of residents are in poverty. Besides Laboratory CS, Philadelphia County has 308 other public schools.
Nearby, Bethune Mary McLeod School is about 0.2 miles away. There are at least 8 more public schools inside five miles. Laboratory CS's average proficiency of 8.9% compares with 13.4% for its nearest scored neighbors.
The NCES locale for Laboratory CS is City: Large, which covers schools inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more. Laboratory CS is a publicly funded charter school.
Compared with 2020-21, the school had 225 fewer students in 2024-25. The number of students per teacher rose from 15.9 to 21.9 over 4 years.
Conversations here can range across school safety, transportation, and start times. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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
- 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
- Bethune Mary McLeod School0.2 mi · 433
- Potter-Thomas School0.4 mi · 325
- Mastery CS-Clymer Elementary0.5 mi · 419
- Munoz-Marin Luis0.5 mi · 519
- Kenderton Elementary School0.5 mi · 300
- Taylor Bayard School0.5 mi · 394
Frequently asked questions
About Laboratory CSHow many students attend Laboratory CS?
Laboratory CS enrolls approximately 461 students in grades KG-08.
What grades does Laboratory CS serve?
Laboratory CS serves grades KG-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Laboratory CS?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Laboratory CS is approximately 21.9:1 (21 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Laboratory CS?
Laboratory CS reports a student body of 1% White, 5% Hispanic, 93% Black, 1% Two or more.
What district is Laboratory CS in?
Laboratory CS is part of Laboratory CS.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.