1
Which teacher or staff member at Park Forest MS deserves more recognition?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
822
Middle
DISTRICT 787 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·STATE COLLEGE AREA SD·NCES 422277006234
Park Forest Middle School
2180 School Dr, State College, PA 16803 · (814) 272-8217 · Centre County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE23-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL822 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 91% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+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
13.1:1
63 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.4:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
15%
124 students
DISTRICT 20% · 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 | 283 | 34% |
| Grade 7 | 263 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 276 | 34% |
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
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
79.2%
PA avg 51.1% . -0.8pp since 2023
Math
60.9%
PA avg 43.0% . +1.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 79 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 61 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 1 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 79.2% | 60.9% |
| 2023-24 | 80.0% | 59.5% |
% 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
71.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 71% 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 Park Forest Middle School
Park Forest Middle School's state test result (71.3% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Park Forest Middle School this school | 822 | 15.1% | 71.3% |
| Franklin Regional Middle School Murrysville | 771 | 18.8% | 65.8% |
| Strath Haven Middle School Wallingford | 868 | 16.9% | 70.5% |
| Holicong Middle School Doylestown | 907 | 9.0% | 74.4% |
| Carson Middle School Pittsburgh | 652 | 14.0% | 64.3% |
| Springton Lake Middle School Media | 1,012 | 16.7% | 74.7% |
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 Park Forest Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 71.3% | #31 of 479 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 60.9% | #51 of 513 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 79.2% | #18 of 513 ▲ 7 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 822 | #108 of 522 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.1:1 | #262 of 486 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 37.2% | #268 of 486 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 15.1% | #485 of 510 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +4.3% | #90 of 131 |
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
822
+25 (+3%) vs 2020
-13% since 1990-91, when it was 947
Student : Teacher
13.1:1
was 11.9:1
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 | 822 | 62.7 | 13.1:1 | 15% (124) |
| 2023-24 | 808 | 60.3 | 13.4:1 | 15% (124) |
| 2022-23 | 815 | 61.7 | 13.2:1 | 14% (116) |
| 2020-21 | 797 | 67 | 11.9:1 | 12% (99) |
| 2017-18 | 788 | 64.8 | 12.2:1 | 17% (134) |
| 2015-16 | 810 | 69 | 11.7:1 | 18% (143) |
| 2010-11 | 823 | 67 | 12.3:1 | 14% (116) |
| 2000-01 | 879 | 67 | 13.1:1 | 13% (113) |
| 1990-91 | 947 | 74 | 12.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Park Forest Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 4% (788 to 822); teachers down 3% (64.8 to 62.7).
About Park Forest Middle School
Park Forest Middle School is a medium-sized middle school with an address in State College, Pennsylvania. The school reports 822 students in grades 6 through 8. The typical figure for middle schools in Pennsylvania is about 594 students.
Park Forest Middle School is a school in State College Area SD. The district has 11 schools and 6,799 students.
By race and ethnicity, Park Forest Middle School is 78% White. It is also 10% Asian, 7% multiracial, and 3% Hispanic. Park Forest Middle School has a diversity index of 37%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Park Forest Middle School employs 62.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 13.1:1. Middle schools in Pennsylvania have a similar average ratio of 13.2:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 15% in 2024-25. That rate is below the 31% average among public schools in Centre County.
allk12 grades Park Forest Middle School an A. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
Park Forest Middle School's actual average proficiency rate on state tests (71.3%) and its predicted rate (71.1%) put it outside the top and bottom 10% of Pennsylvania schools.
County data help place the school in context: in Centre County, median household income is about $74,291, about 46% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Park Forest Middle School is among the 33 public schools in Centre County.
The closest other public school is Park Forest Elementary School, about 0.2 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Park Forest Middle School ranks 5th of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 71.3% against a local average of 69.5%.
In the federal locale system, Park Forest Middle School is coded Suburb: Small, for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
The 2024-25 enrollment of 822 was 3% higher than in 2020-21, when it was 797. There were more students per teacher in 2024-25 (13.1:1) than in 2020-21 (11.9:1).
Parents and students can post about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news at Park Forest Middle School. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Centre County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
158,576
Census ACS
Median income
$74,291
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
33
13,674 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in State College Area SD
- State College Area High SchoolHigh · 2,402 students
- Mount Nittany Middle SchoolMiddle · 752 students
- Radio Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 424 students
- Park Forest Elementary SchoolElementary · 419 students
- Mount Nittany Elementary SchoolElementary · 413 students
- Spring Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 360 students
Other schools in State College
- State College Area High SchoolHigh · 2,402 students
- Mount Nittany Middle SchoolMiddle · 752 students
- Radio Park Elementary SchoolElementary · 424 students
- Park Forest Elementary SchoolElementary · 419 students
- Mount Nittany Elementary SchoolElementary · 413 students
- Spring Creek Elementary SchoolElementary · 360 students
Other Park Forest Middle schools
One other US public school is named Park Forest Middle. Park Forest Middle School is the largest of the 2.
- Park Forest Middle SchoolBaton Rouge, LA · 445 students
Nearby schools
- Park Forest Elementary School0.2 mi · 419
- Gray's Woods Elementary School1.9 mi · 356
- Radio Park Elementary School2.0 mi · 424
- Corl Street Elementary School3.0 mi · 250
- Young Scholars of Central PA CS3.2 mi · 321
- Centre Learning Community CS3.4 mi · 67
Frequently asked questions
About Park Forest Middle SchoolHow many students attend Park Forest Middle School?
Park Forest Middle School enrolls approximately 822 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Park Forest Middle School serve?
Park Forest Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Park Forest Middle School?
Approximately 13.1:1 students per teacher at Park Forest Middle School.
How diverse is Park Forest Middle School?
Park Forest Middle School reports a student body of 78% White, 3% Hispanic, 2% Black, 10% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Park Forest Middle School?
Park Forest Middle School is overseen by State College Area SD in Centre County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.