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If you had an hour of school board time for McDowell HS, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
2,133
High
DISTRICT 707 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MILLCREEK TOWNSHIP SD·NCES 421533007320
McDowell High School
3580 West 38th St, Erie, PA 16506 · (814) 835-5403 · Erie County
GRADES 09–12HIGH22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL2,133 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 86% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-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 high schools
Student : Teacher
14.4:1
148 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
49%
1,042 students
DISTRICT 50% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 12 | 1% |
| Grade 9 | 532 | 25% |
| Grade 10 | 525 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 543 | 25% |
| Grade 12 | 521 | 24% |
Student demographics
37%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 41% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Millcreek Township SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
73.9%
PA avg 51.1% . +4.3pp since 2023
Math
59.0%
PA avg 43.0% . -5.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 74 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 59 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 5 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 73.9% | 59.0% |
| 2023-24 | 69.6% | 64.0% |
% 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
65.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.7%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+8.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 65% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 57% 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 McDowell High School
McDowell High School's state test result (65.1% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| McDowell High School this school | 2,133 | 48.9% | 65.1% |
| Neshaminy High School Langhorne | 2,916 | 37.4% | 52.6% |
| Carlisle Area High School Carlisle | 1,559 | 45.2% | 52.4% |
| Ridley High School Folsom | 1,825 | 53.5% | 51.7% |
| Ephrata SHS Ephrata | 1,347 | 50.3% | 70.9% |
| Shippensburg Area SHS Shippensburg | 1,097 | 54.9% | 53.6% |
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 McDowell High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Erie County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 65.1% | #106 of 576 | #6 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 59.0% | #118 of 626 ▼ 50 | #6 of 15 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 73.9% | #115 of 626 ▲ 77 | #6 of 15 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 2,133 | #30 of 713 | #2 of 16 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.4:1 | #358 of 601 | #10 of 15 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 37.2% | #242 of 604 | #4 of 15 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.9% | #366 of 619 | #12 of 15 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.1% | #320 of 373 | #10 of 11 |
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
2,133
-61 (-3%) vs 2020
-10% since 2010-11, when it was 2,359
Student : Teacher
14.4:1
was 15.4:1
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 | 2,133 | 148.2 | 14.4:1 | 49% (1,042) |
| 2023-24 | 2,161 | 140.1 | 15.4:1 | 48% (1,042) |
| 2022-23 | 2,205 | 134.2 | 16.4:1 | 40% (890) |
| 2020-21 | 2,194 | 142 | 15.4:1 | 36% (799) |
| 2017-18 | 2,201 | 141.6 | 15.6:1 | 36% (787) |
| 2015-16 | 2,319 | 143 | 16.2:1 | 38% (887) |
| 2010-11 | 2,359 | 159 | 14.8:1 | 19% (437) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for McDowell High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (2,201 to 2,133); teachers up 5% (141.6 to 148.2).
About McDowell High School
McDowell High School is a high-enrollment high school in Erie, Pennsylvania, (ZIP code 16506). It reported 2,133 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2024-25. High schools in Pennsylvania have about 738 students on average; enrollment here is 189% higher.
District-wide, Millcreek Township SD has 9 schools and 6,363 students.
More than half of the students at McDowell High School are White (79%). The rest of enrollment is 6% multiracial, 6% Asian, 5% Hispanic, and 3% Black. The diversity index for McDowell High School is 37%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
A staff of 148.2 full-time-equivalent teachers puts the student-to-teacher ratio at 14.4:1. Compared with the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania, this school's ratio is higher. By family income, 49% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Among public schools in Erie County, the average eligibility rate is 74%.
Among Pennsylvania public high schools, McDowell High School outscored 86%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
Schools in Pennsylvania with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 56.7%. McDowell High School scores 65.1%.
American Community Survey estimates for Erie County show that median household income comes to about $63,354, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 30% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 10%. The county's public schools total 68, with about 35,738 students.
The closest school to McDowell High School is Grandview Elementary School, located about 0.8 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Of 8 schools in the immediate area with test results, McDowell High School ranks 4th on average proficiency.
Under the NCES locale system, McDowell High School is Suburb: Mid-size.
Enrollment decreased by 3% across 4 years, from 2,194 in 2020-21 to 2,133 in 2024-25. The ratio was 15.4:1 in 2020-21 and 14.4:1 in 2024-25.
People can post here about special education services, counseling, and support programs and other school topics. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Erie County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
269,052
Census ACS
Median income
$63,354
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
30%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
68
35,738 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Millcreek Township SD
- Grandview Elementary SchoolElementary · 691 students
- Belle Valley Elementary SchoolElementary · 626 students
- Asbury Elementary SchoolElementary · 572 students
- James S Wilson Middle SchoolMiddle · 547 students
- Tracy Elementary SchoolElementary · 515 students
- Westlake Middle SchoolMiddle · 477 students
Other schools in Erie
- Erie High SchoolHigh · 2,501 students
- Woodrow Wilson Middle SchoolMiddle · 769 students
- Northwest PA Collegiate AcademyHigh · 750 students
- Strong Vincent Middle SchoolMiddle · 711 students
- Grandview Elementary SchoolElementary · 691 students
- Pfeiffer-Burleigh SchoolElementary · 690 students
Other McDowell High schools
One other US public school is named McDowell High. McDowell High School is the largest of the 2.
- McDowell High SchoolMarion, NC · 1,379 students
Nearby schools
- Grandview Elementary School0.8 mi · 691
- Westlake Middle School2.1 mi · 477
- Asbury Elementary School2.2 mi · 572
- Walnut Creek Middle School2.3 mi · 399
- Montessori Regional CS2.4 mi · 626
- Tracy Elementary School2.5 mi · 515
Frequently asked questions
About McDowell High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at McDowell High School?
McDowell High School enrolls approximately 2,133 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does McDowell High School serve?
McDowell High School serves grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at McDowell High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at McDowell High School is approximately 14.4:1 (148 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at McDowell High School?
At McDowell High School, the student body is approximately 79% White, 5% Hispanic, 3% Black, 6% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is McDowell High School public or private?
McDowell High School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Millcreek Township SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.