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How has Liberty HS changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
2,541
High
DISTRICT 2,167 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BETHLEHEM AREA SD·NCES 420357003465
Liberty High School
1115 Linden St, Bethlehem, PA 18018 · (610) 691-7200 · Northampton County
GRADES 09–12HIGH13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL2,541 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
158 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.3:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
64%
1,635 students
DISTRICT 64% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 689 | 27% |
| Grade 10 | 659 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 561 | 22% |
| Grade 12 | 632 | 25% |
Student demographics
62%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
43.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -4.1pp since 2023
Math
23.7%
PA avg 43.0% . -2.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 24 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 43.8% | 23.7% |
| 2023-24 | 47.9% | 26.3% |
% 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
33.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
50.0%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 34% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 50% 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 Liberty High School
Liberty High School's state test result (33.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liberty High School this school | 2,541 | 64.3% | 33.7% |
| Freedom High School Bethlehem | 1,792 | 53.2% | 41.1% |
| Kennett High School Kennett Square | 1,184 | 51.2% | 46.5% |
| Chambersburg Area SHS Chambersburg | 2,319 | 60.4% | 45.1% |
| McCaskey Campus Lancaster | 2,600 | 89.0% | 35.1% |
| Wilkes-Barre Area High School Plains | 2,569 | 96.1% | 32.5% |
Matched among Pennsylvania high 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 Liberty High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Northampton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 33.7% | #470 of 576 | #11 of 11 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 23.7% | #471 of 626 ▼ 41 | #11 of 11 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.8% | #482 of 626 ▼ 4 | #11 of 11 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 2,541 | #18 of 713 | #2 of 13 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.0:1 | #478 of 601 | #8 of 11 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 61.8% | #80 of 604 | #5 of 11 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 64.3% | #272 of 619 | #3 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.8% | #241 of 373 | #6 of 8 |
Ranked against other public high 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
2,541
-122 (-5%) vs 2020
+27% since 1990-91, when it was 2,006
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
was 17.9:1
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 | 2,541 | 158.5 | 16.0:1 | 64% (1,635) |
| 2023-24 | 2,587 | 168.8 | 15.3:1 | 63% (1,635) |
| 2022-23 | 2,640 | 160 | 16.5:1 | 50% (1,323) |
| 2020-21 | 2,663 | 149 | 17.9:1 | 46% (1,214) |
| 2017-18 | 2,726 | 149.9 | 18.2:1 | 42% (1,136) |
| 2015-16 | 2,752 | 155 | 17.8:1 | 56% (1,548) |
| 2010-11 | 2,893 | 163 | 17.8:1 | 49% (1,427) |
| 2000-01 | 2,631 | 141 | 18.7:1 | 32% (841) |
| 1990-91 | 2,006 | 132 | 15.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Liberty High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (2,726 to 2,541); teachers up 6% (149.9 to 158.5).
About Liberty High School
Liberty High School operates as a large high school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. School enrollment was 2,541 students in 2024-25, in grades 9 through 12. The average among high schools in Pennsylvania is roughly 738 students; this school is 244% bigger than that.
Liberty High School sits within Bethlehem Area SD, which has 22 schools and 12,717 students.
At Liberty High School, the largest share of students is Hispanic, at 50%. The next largest groups are 35% White, 11% Black, 2% Asian, and 2% multiracial. The school's Hispanic share is 34 points above the 16% share among Northampton County residents. The school's diversity index is 62%, meaning two students picked at random have a 62% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 16.0:1, with 158.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. That is higher than the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Liberty High School is 64%. For comparison, public schools in Northampton County average 61%.
In Pennsylvania, Liberty High School is in the middle band of BeatsExpectations: 33.7% actual against a predicted 50.0%.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Northampton County show that the median household income is $89,184, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Liberty High School is one of 60 public schools in the county.
Nearest public school: Northeast Middle School, about 0.5 miles away. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Liberty High School ranks 5th of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 33.7% against a local average of 38.1%.
Liberty High School is coded as City: Small in federal locale data.
Federal data show a 5% enrollment decrease, from 2,663 in 2020-21 to 2,541 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 17.9:1 in 2020-21 to 16.0:1 in 2024-25.
Community posts for Liberty High School can cover enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Northampton County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
318,580
Census ACS
Median income
$89,184
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
60
38,316 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bethlehem Area SD
- Freedom High SchoolHigh · 1,792 students
- East Hills Middle SchoolMiddle · 966 students
- Nitschmann Middle SchoolMiddle · 731 students
- Northeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 715 students
- Spring Garden Elementary SchoolElementary · 532 students
- Fountain Hill Elementary SchoolElementary · 530 students
Other schools in Bethlehem
- Lehigh Valley Academy Regional CSCombined · 1,878 students
- Freedom High SchoolHigh · 1,792 students
- East Hills Middle SchoolMiddle · 966 students
- Nitschmann Middle SchoolMiddle · 731 students
- Northeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 715 students
- Southern Lehigh Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 702 students
Other Liberty High schools
33 other US public schools in 22 states are named Liberty High. Liberty High School is the 3rd largest of the 34.
- Liberty High SchoolHenderson, NV · 3,203 students
- Liberty HighBrentwood, CA · 2,836 students
- Liberty HighWinchester, CA · 2,537 students
- Liberty High SchoolPEORIA, AZ · 2,510 students
- Liberty HighBakersfield, CA · 2,369 students
Nearby schools
- Northeast Middle School0.5 mi · 715
- Thomas Jefferson Elementary School0.5 mi · 238
- William Penn Elementary School0.5 mi · 242
- Lehigh Valley Dual Language CS0.7 mi · 457
- Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts1.2 mi · 550
- Lincoln Elementary School1.3 mi · 355
Frequently asked questions
About Liberty High SchoolHow many students attend Liberty High School?
Liberty High School enrolls approximately 2,541 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Liberty High School serve?
Liberty High School serves grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Liberty High School have?
Liberty High School employs 158 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.0:1.
What is the student diversity at Liberty High School?
Student demographics at Liberty High School are roughly 35% White, 50% Hispanic, 11% Black, 2% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees Liberty High School?
Liberty High School is overseen by Bethlehem Area SD in Northampton County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.