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How has Laurel El Sch changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
503
Elementary
DISTRICT 325 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LAUREL SD·NCES 421338007209
Laurel Elementary School
223 McCaslin Rd, New Castle, PA 16101 · (724) 658-2673 · Lawrence County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL503 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 85% 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
16.2:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.1:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
37%
188 students
DISTRICT 36% · 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 | 64 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 70 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 61 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 71 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 89 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 71 | 14% |
| Grade 6 | 77 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (64) is 17% smaller than its 6th grade class (77).
Student demographics
8%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 8% · 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
Based on grade levels within Laurel SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
64.9%
PA avg 51.1% . -8.7pp since 2023
Math
69.4%
PA avg 43.0% . -3.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 65 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 69 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 9 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 64.9% | 69.4% |
| 2023-24 | 73.6% | 72.8% |
% 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
72.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.6%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+10.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 72% 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 Laurel Elementary School
Laurel Elementary School's state test result (72.3% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laurel Elementary School this school | 503 | 37.4% | 72.3% |
| Hartman El Center Catawissa | 480 | 36.0% | 65.8% |
| Baggaley Elementary School Latrobe | 510 | 37.1% | 59.3% |
| Cambria Elementary School Ebensburg | 542 | 36.7% | 61.3% |
| Knoch Primary School Saxonburg | 536 | 34.1% | 69.3% |
| Lakeland Elementary School - Scott Campus Scott Township | 432 | 39.4% | 61.6% |
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 Laurel Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lawrence County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 72.3% | #250 of 1,396 | #1 of 8 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 69.4% | #282 of 1,511 ▼ 88 | #1 of 8 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 64.9% | #309 of 1,511 ▼ 66 | #2 of 8 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 503 | #524 of 1,638 | #5 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.2:1 | #1,411 of 1,528 | #10 of 10 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 8.1% | #1,464 of 1,531 | #9 of 10 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.4% | #1,198 of 1,600 | #8 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -9.2% | #688 of 1,045 | #5 of 9 |
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
503
-9 (-2%) vs 2020
-44% since 1990-91, when it was 893
Student : Teacher
16.2:1
was 15.1:1
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 | 503 | 31 | 16.2:1 | 37% (188) |
| 2023-24 | 499 | 32.5 | 15.3:1 | 38% (188) |
| 2022-23 | 496 | 32.5 | 15.3:1 | 21% (105) |
| 2020-21 | 512 | 34 | 15.1:1 | 25% (126) |
| 2017-18 | 554 | 33.4 | 16.6:1 | 29% (161) |
| 2015-16 | 594 | 36 | 16.5:1 | 30% (180) |
| 2010-11 | 695 | 38 | 18.3:1 | 36% (250) |
| 2000-01 | 754 | 46 | 16.4:1 | 18% (137) |
| 1990-91 | 893 | 44 | 20.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Laurel Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 9% (554 to 503); teachers down 7% (33.4 to 31).
About Laurel Elementary School
Laurel Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school serving families in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The school's 503 students are in kindergarten through 6.
Laurel Elementary School sits within Laurel SD, which has 3 schools and 976 students.
Laurel Elementary School's enrollment is 96% White. The school's diversity index is 8%, meaning two students picked at random have an 8% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The school has about 16.2 students per teacher and 31 full-time-equivalent teachers. The school has more students per teacher than the 13.1:1 average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania. About 37% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. On average, public schools in Lawrence County report 67%.
The allk12 Grade for Laurel Elementary School is A. Compared with Pennsylvania public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 85% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 61.6% at Laurel Elementary School; the school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 72.3%.
Within Lawrence County, the median household income is $61,931, about 23% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 8%. In all, Lawrence County has 25 public schools and roughly 11,015 students.
The closest public school to Laurel Elementary School is Laurel High School, about 0.3 miles away. Laurel Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. The nearest schools with test data average 47.0%, lower than Laurel Elementary School's 72.3%.
Laurel Elementary School falls in the Rural: Fringe locale category, used for schools in rural territory close to an urban area.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, enrollment moved from 512 to 503, a small change. By 2024-25, the school had 16.2 students per teacher, compared with 15.1 in 2020-21.
Parents and students can post about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Laurel Elementary School. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Lawrence County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
85,024
Census ACS
Median income
$61,931
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
25
11,015 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Laurel SD
- Laurel High SchoolHigh · 313 students
- Laurel Middle SchoolMiddle · 160 students
Other schools in New Castle
- New Castle SHSHigh · 740 students
- Harry W Lockley Early Learning CenterElementary · 736 students
- Mohawk Elementary SchoolElementary · 709 students
- Washington Intrmd SchoolElementary · 707 students
- New Castle Junior High SchoolMiddle · 689 students
- Neshannock Memorial Elementary SchoolElementary · 688 students
Other Laurel Elementary schools
15 other US public schools in 10 states are named Laurel Elementary. Laurel Elementary School is the 4th largest of the 16.
- Laurel Elementary SchoolLaurel, DE · 1,145 students
- LAUREL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPOINCIANA, FL · 1,126 students
- Laurel ElementaryAtherton, CA · 658 students
- Laurel ElementaryOakland, CA · 473 students
- Laurel ElementaryLaurel, MD · 472 students
Nearby schools
- Laurel High School0.3 mi · 313
- Laurel Middle School0.3 mi · 160
- Harry W Lockley Early Learning Center3.8 mi · 736
- New Castle Junior High School4.4 mi · 689
- New Castle SHS4.4 mi · 740
- Shenango High School4.5 mi · 449
Frequently asked questions
About Laurel Elementary SchoolHow large is Laurel Elementary School?
Laurel Elementary School enrolls approximately 503 students in grades KG-06.
Is Laurel Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Laurel Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
How many teachers does Laurel Elementary School have?
Laurel Elementary School employs 31 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.2:1.
What is the student diversity at Laurel Elementary School?
Student demographics at Laurel Elementary School are roughly 96% White, 2% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Laurel Elementary School?
Laurel Elementary School is overseen by Laurel SD in Lawrence County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.