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What's the most underrated thing about Lower Dauphin MS that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
781
Middle
DISTRICT 417 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LOWER DAUPHIN SD·NCES 421410000122
Lower Dauphin Middle School
251 Quarry Rd, Hummelstown, PA 17036 · (717) 566-5310 · Dauphin County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL781 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 37% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
68 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
33%
257 students
DISTRICT 32% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 240 | 31% |
| Grade 7 | 246 | 31% |
| Grade 8 | 295 | 38% |
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 36% · 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
Lower Dauphin Middle School→Lower Dauphin High School
Based on grade levels within Lower Dauphin SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
49.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -11.5pp since 2023
Math
33.2%
PA avg 43.0% . -5.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 33 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 12 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 6 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 49.5% | 33.2% |
| 2023-24 | 61.0% | 38.7% |
% 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
48.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
63.5%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-15.1pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 64% 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 Lower Dauphin Middle School
Lower Dauphin Middle School's state test result (48.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Dauphin Middle School this school | 781 | 32.9% | 48.4% |
| Martin Meylin Middle School Lampeter | 686 | 29.0% | 57.5% |
| Upper Perkiomen Middle School Pennsburg | 672 | 35.0% | 52.8% |
| Strayer Middle School Quakertown | 737 | 37.3% | 40.6% |
| Boyertown Area MS-East Gilbertsville | 841 | 27.2% | 59.2% |
| Manheim Central Middle School Manheim | 846 | 38.3% | 46.1% |
Matched among Pennsylvania middle 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 Lower Dauphin Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Dauphin County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.4% | #237 of 479 | #3 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 33.2% | #299 of 513 ▼ 77 | #4 of 14 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.5% | #284 of 513 ▼ 91 | #3 of 14 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 781 | #123 of 522 | #4 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.5:1 | #93 of 486 | #2 of 14 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.3% | #282 of 486 | #11 of 14 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 32.9% | #391 of 510 | #12 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.3% | #137 of 332 | #3 of 6 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
781
-78 (-9%) vs 2020
-18% since 2000-01, when it was 947
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
was 13.2:1
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 | 781 | 67.7 | 11.5:1 | 33% (257) |
| 2023-24 | 841 | 66.1 | 12.7:1 | 31% (257) |
| 2022-23 | 883 | 68.1 | 13.0:1 | 27% (236) |
| 2020-21 | 859 | 65 | 13.2:1 | 27% (232) |
| 2017-18 | 891 | 66 | 13.5:1 | 22% (200) |
| 2015-16 | 876 | 65 | 13.5:1 | 23% (199) |
| 2010-11 | 898 | 71 | 12.7:1 | 17% (155) |
| 2000-01 | 947 | 64 | 14.8:1 | 12% (117) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Lower Dauphin Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (891 to 781); teachers up 3% (66 to 67.7).
About Lower Dauphin Middle School
At 251 Quarry Rd in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, Lower Dauphin Middle School operates as a medium-sized middle-grades school. Students in grades 6 through 8 attend the school, which enrolls 781 students. For comparison, middle schools in Pennsylvania average about 594 students.
Lower Dauphin SD is the district for Lower Dauphin Middle School. It has 8 schools and 3,339 students.
Roughly 80% of students at Lower Dauphin Middle School are White. Beyond that, enrollment is 9% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, 3% Asian, and 2% Black. The White share of the county population is lower, at 63%. Pick two students at random and there is a 35% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Lower Dauphin Middle School counts 67.7 full-time-equivalent teachers, about 11.5 students for each one. On average, middle schools in Pennsylvania have 13.2:1, compared with 11.5:1 here. About 33% of enrolled students meet the income rules for free or reduced-price lunch. It compares with 59% for public schools in Dauphin County.
Lower Dauphin Middle School is graded C+ by allk12, scoring above 37% of Pennsylvania public middle schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 48.4%. For its free or reduced-price lunch share, the predicted value is 63.5%.
Dauphin County census figures show that the median household income is $76,242, about 34% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 9% of residents are in poverty. Dauphin County is home to 75 public schools and about 72,718 public school students.
The nearest other public school, Price, is about 0.5 miles away. Inside a five-mile radius, there are at least 8 other public schools. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Lower Dauphin Middle School ranks 7th of 7 on average proficiency.
Federal records code the school's setting as Suburb: Large.
The school enrolled 781 students in 2024-25, 78 fewer than the 859 it had in 2020-21. Federal data show the ratio falling from 13.2:1 to 11.5:1.
Discussion on this page can cover science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Dauphin County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
289,593
Census ACS
Median income
$76,242
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
75
72,718 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lower Dauphin SD
- Lower Dauphin High SchoolHigh · 1,057 students
- South Hanover Elementary SchoolElementary · 371 students
- East Hanover Elementary SchoolElementary · 333 students
- Nye Elementary SchoolElementary · 317 students
- Conewago Elementary SchoolElementary · 239 students
- Londonderry Elementary SchoolElementary · 234 students
Other schools in Hummelstown
- Lower Dauphin High SchoolHigh · 1,057 students
- Nye Elementary SchoolElementary · 317 students
- PriceHigh · 7 students
Nearby schools
- Price0.5 mi · 7
- Lower Dauphin High School0.5 mi · 1,057
- Nye Elementary School0.8 mi · 317
- South Hanover Elementary School2.2 mi · 371
- Hershey Early Childhood Center3.1 mi · 420
- Hershey High School3.1 mi · 1,050
Frequently asked questions
About Lower Dauphin Middle SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Lower Dauphin Middle School?
Lower Dauphin Middle School enrolls approximately 781 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Lower Dauphin Middle School serve?
Lower Dauphin Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Lower Dauphin Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Lower Dauphin Middle School is approximately 11.5:1 (68 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Lower Dauphin Middle School?
At Lower Dauphin Middle School, the student body is approximately 80% White, 9% Hispanic, 2% Black, 3% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Lower Dauphin Middle School public or private?
Lower Dauphin Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Lower Dauphin SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.