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How has New Castle JHS changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
689
Middle
DISTRICT 718 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEW CASTLE AREA SD·NCES 421662007480
New Castle Junior High School
310 E Lincoln Ave, New Castle, PA 16101 · (724) 656-4700 · Lawrence County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE31-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL689 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 7% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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
16.4:1
42 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
681 students
DISTRICT 101% · 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 | 256 | 37% |
| Grade 7 | 228 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 205 | 30% |
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
New Castle Junior High School→New Castle SHS
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within New Castle Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
20.5%
PA avg 51.1% . +2.0pp since 2023
Math
12.8%
PA avg 43.0% . +1.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 21 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 13 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 20.5% | 12.8% |
| 2023-24 | 18.5% | 11.3% |
% 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
17.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
35.2%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-18.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 17% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 35% 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 New Castle Junior High School
New Castle Junior High School's state test result (17.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Castle Junior High School this school | 689 | 98.8% | 17.2% |
| Pottsgrove Middle School Pottstown | 678 | 99.6% | 41.3% |
| Neil A Armstrong Middle School Fairless Hills | 668 | 99.3% | 25.5% |
| Benjamin Franklin Middle School Levittown | 754 | 100.0% | 26.6% |
| Greater Nanticoke Area Ed Center Nanticoke | 533 | 99.6% | 30.9% |
| Ambridge Area Middle School Freedom | 500 | 95.0% | 29.5% |
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 New Castle Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lawrence County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 17.2% | #458 of 479 | #6 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 12.8% | #454 of 513 ▲ 7 | #6 of 6 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 20.5% | #483 of 513 ▲ 15 | #6 of 6 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 689 | #178 of 522 | #1 of 6 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.4:1 | #452 of 486 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.4% | #48 of 486 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.8% | #100 of 510 | #1 of 6 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +44.4% | #7 of 131 | N/A |
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
689
-20 (-3%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
was 16.1:1
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 | 689 | 42.1 | 16.4:1 | 99% (681) |
| 2023-24 | 681 | 40 | 17.0:1 | 100% (678) |
| 2022-23 | 706 | 41.5 | 17.0:1 | 100% (703) |
| 2020-21 | 709 | 44 | 16.1:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 477 | 32.9 | 14.5:1 | 100% (477) |
| 2015-16 | 438 | 33 | 13.3:1 | 99% (435) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for New Castle Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 44% (477 to 689); teachers up 28% (32.9 to 42.1).
About New Castle Junior High School
The public middle school New Castle Junior High School is located in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The school offers grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 689 students.
New Castle Area SD oversees New Castle Junior High School and 3 other schools, with 2,872 students in total.
More than half of the students at New Castle Junior High School are White (52%). Beyond that, enrollment is 22% multiracial, 18% Black, and 7% Hispanic. In Lawrence County overall, about 90% of residents are White. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 64%.
Its ratio of 16.4:1 is based on 42.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. Middle schools in Pennsylvania average 13.2:1, 3.2 fewer students per teacher than here. The share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 99%. That is higher than the 67% average for public schools in Lawrence County.
New Castle Junior High School holds a D allk12 Grade, placing it above 7% of Pennsylvania public middle schools.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, New Castle Junior High School is in the bottom 10% of Pennsylvania schools: 17.2% actual against 35.2% predicted.
For Lawrence County, Census Bureau data show median household income comes to about $61,931, about 23% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 8% of residents are in poverty. There are 25 public schools in the county, enrolling about 11,015, New Castle Junior High School among them.
The closest school to New Castle Junior High School is New Castle SHS, located less than a tenth of a mile away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. On proficiency, New Castle Junior High School is behind the 46.8% nearby average, ranking 8th of 8.
Locale: Town: Fringe. In NCES terms, the school is in a town close to an urbanized area.
The school's enrollment decreased 3% from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on athletics, class schedules, and weather closures here. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 New Castle Area SD
- New Castle SHSHigh · 740 students
- Harry W Lockley Early Learning CenterElementary · 736 students
- Washington Intrmd SchoolElementary · 707 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
- Neshannock Memorial Elementary SchoolElementary · 688 students
- Neshannock JSHSHigh · 545 students
Nearby schools
- New Castle SHS0.1 mi · 740
- Harry W Lockley Early Learning Center0.7 mi · 736
- Washington Intrmd School0.9 mi · 707
- Union Memorial Elementary School2.0 mi · 320
- Lawrence County Career and Technical Center2.0 mi · 418
- Union Area High School2.3 mi · 193
Frequently asked questions
About New Castle Junior High SchoolHow large is New Castle Junior High School?
New Castle Junior High School enrolls approximately 689 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does New Castle Junior High School serve?
New Castle Junior High School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at New Castle Junior High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at New Castle Junior High School is approximately 16.4:1 (42 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at New Castle Junior High School?
Student demographics at New Castle Junior High School are roughly 52% White, 7% Hispanic, 18% Black, 22% Two or more.
What district is New Castle Junior High School in?
New Castle Junior High School is part of New Castle Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.