New Cumberland MS

Set in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, New Cumberland MS is an intimate middle-grades school, overseen by West Shore SD. It hosts 389 students across grades 7 through 8. That puts it 35% below the typical public school in Pennsylvania, which averages around 594 students.

Across the 15 schools in West Shore SD (7,705 students total), New Cumberland MS accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, New Cumberland MS reports that White students make up the majority at 59%; the rest looks like 20% Hispanic, 10% Black, 6% multiracial, 5% Asian. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 82%.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 11.0:1 students per teacher. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.2:1 average. An estimated 66% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. Set against Cumberland County (around 41%), the school's rate is meaningfully above typical.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), New Cumberland MS performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 49.5%, the actual is 43.6%, a residual of -5.9 points.

In the surrounding community, community-level numbers for Cumberland County indicate median household income runs about $87,494, 40% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. New Cumberland MS is one of 57 public schools in Cumberland County (combined enrollment of about 33,044 students).

Nearest neighbor: Hillside El Sch, around 0.2 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around New Cumberland MS. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts New Cumberland MS at 6th of 8; the average score across the group is 43.4%.

Geographically, the school is in a commuter-belt area.

Five-year trend. New Cumberland MS's enrollment has fell 36% since 2018, when it stood at 607 (now 389). Over the same period, the White share decreased from 75% to 59%. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 14.1:1 in 2018 to 11.0:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.