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What's the biggest difference between Northampton Area MS and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,175
Middle
DISTRICT 852 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NORTHAMPTON AREA SD·NCES 421737005258
Northampton Area Middle School
1617 Laubach Ave, Northampton, PA 18067 · (610) 262-7817 · Northampton County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,175 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 24% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- CTest 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
13.9:1
84 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.2:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
49%
581 students
DISTRICT 47% · 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 | 384 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 382 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 409 | 35% |
Student demographics
38%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 37% · 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
Northampton Area Middle School→Northampton Area High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Northampton Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
49.0%
PA avg 51.1% . +1.6pp since 2023
Math
30.3%
PA avg 43.0% . +2.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 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 | 49.0% | 30.3% |
| 2023-24 | 47.4% | 28.3% |
% 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
40.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.4%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% 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 Northampton Area Middle School
Northampton Area Middle School's state test result (40.4% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northampton Area Middle School this school | 1,175 | 49.4% | 40.4% |
| Conewago Valley Intrmd School New Oxford | 842 | 50.7% | 56.2% |
| Cedar Crest Middle School Lebanon | 1,224 | 48.7% | 48.9% |
| Daniel Boone Area Middle School Douglassville | 884 | 44.8% | 48.8% |
| Red Lion Area Junior High School Red Lion | 747 | 45.6% | 43.5% |
| Conrad Weiser Middle School Robesonia | 761 | 42.8% | 44.0% |
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 Northampton Area Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Northampton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 40.4% | #340 of 479 | #8 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 30.3% | #334 of 513 ▲ 24 | #8 of 12 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.0% | #289 of 513 ▲ 76 | #7 of 12 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,175 | #22 of 522 | #2 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.9:1 | #330 of 486 | #11 of 12 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 37.7% | #259 of 486 | #9 of 12 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 49.4% | #264 of 510 | #8 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -13.3% | #129 of 332 | #4 of 9 |
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
1,175
-112 (-9%) vs 2020
-10% since 1990-91, when it was 1,302
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
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 | 1,175 | 84.4 | 13.9:1 | 49% (581) |
| 2023-24 | 1,235 | 83.1 | 14.9:1 | 47% (581) |
| 2022-23 | 1,256 | 79.5 | 15.8:1 | 42% (532) |
| 2020-21 | 1,287 | 80 | 16.1:1 | 34% (441) |
| 2017-18 | 1,355 | 76.4 | 17.7:1 | 33% (441) |
| 2015-16 | 1,309 | 74 | 17.7:1 | 32% (417) |
| 2010-11 | 807 | 61 | 13.2:1 | 21% (173) |
| 2000-01 | 875 | 65 | 13.5:1 | 9% (82) |
| 1990-91 | 1,302 | 80 | 16.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Northampton Area Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (1,355 to 1,175); teachers up 11% (76.4 to 84.4).
About Northampton Area Middle School
Northampton Area Middle School is a large middle school with its address in Northampton, Pennsylvania. A total of 1,175 students attend the school, which covers grades 6 through 8. Against the 594-student average for middle schools in Pennsylvania, enrollment here is 98% higher.
The 6 schools of Northampton Area SD, including Northampton Area Middle School, enroll 5,113 students.
White students account for 77% of enrollment at Northampton Area Middle School. Other groups make up 16% Hispanic, 3% multiracial, and 3% Black. County-wide, about 74% of residents are White. The chance that two students picked at random at Northampton Area Middle School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 38%.
At Northampton Area Middle School, 84.4 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 13.9:1. That ratio is over the 13.2:1 average for middle schools in Pennsylvania. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 49% of enrollment. The 61% average for public schools in Northampton County is 12 points higher.
The allk12 Grade for Northampton Area Middle School is C-. Compared with Pennsylvania public middle schools, the school scored higher than 24% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
After adjusting for student poverty, Northampton Area Middle School lands between the top and bottom 10% of Pennsylvania schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 40.4%; the prediction is 56.4%.
Northampton Area Middle School is located in Northampton County, where median household income is about $89,184, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. Northampton Area Middle School is one of 60 public schools in Northampton County, which together enroll about 38,316 students.
The shortest distance from Northampton Area Middle School to another public school is about 0.2 miles, to Northampton Area High School. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. On state test proficiency, Northampton Area Middle School ranks 4th in a group of 8 nearby schools.
The school's federal locale classification is Suburb: Large.
The 2024-25 enrollment of 1,175 was 9% lower than in 2020-21, when it was 1,287. Its ratio of students to teachers was 16.1:1 in 2020-21, and 13.9:1 in 2024-25.
Topics for discussion here include school safety, transportation, and start times. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Northampton Area SD
- Northampton Area High SchoolHigh · 1,866 students
- Colonel John Siegfried Elementary SchoolElementary · 808 students
- Lehigh Elementary SchoolElementary · 474 students
- George Wolf Elementary SchoolElementary · 428 students
- Moore Elementary SchoolElementary · 362 students
Other schools in Northampton
- Northampton Area High SchoolHigh · 1,866 students
- Colonel John Siegfried Elementary SchoolElementary · 808 students
- Catasauqua SHSHigh · 467 students
Nearby schools
- Northampton Area High School0.2 mi · 1,866
- Colonel John Siegfried Elementary School0.3 mi · 808
- Catasauqua SHS1.2 mi · 467
- Catasauqua Middle School2.3 mi · 477
- Innovative Arts Academy CS2.4 mi · 477
- Francis H Sheckler Elementary School2.6 mi · 589
Frequently asked questions
About Northampton Area Middle SchoolHow large is Northampton Area Middle School?
Northampton Area Middle School enrolls approximately 1,175 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Northampton Area Middle School serve?
Northampton Area Middle School serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Northampton Area Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Northampton Area Middle School is approximately 13.9:1 (84 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Northampton Area Middle School?
At Northampton Area Middle School, the student body is approximately 77% White, 16% Hispanic, 3% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Northampton Area Middle School in?
Northampton Area Middle School is part of Northampton Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.