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Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Penn Valley Sch this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
542
Elementary
DISTRICT 494 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LOWER MERION SD·NCES 421416003288
Penn Valley School
301 Righters Mill Rd, Narberth, PA 19072 · (610) 645-1460 · Montgomery County
GRADES KG–04ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL542 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 98% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.0:1
45 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.1:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
15%
81 students
DISTRICT 16% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 84 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 113 | 21% |
| Grade 2 | 126 | 23% |
| Grade 3 | 100 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 119 | 22% |
This year's kindergarten class (84) is 29% smaller than its 4th grade class (119).
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
82.0%
PA avg 51.1% . -6.6pp since 2023
Math
85.0%
PA avg 43.0% . -4.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 82 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 85 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are down about 7 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 5 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 82.0% | 85.0% |
| 2023-24 | 88.6% | 89.7% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
87.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
71.2%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+16.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 88% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 71% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 17 points, placing it in Pennsylvania's top 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 Penn Valley School
Penn Valley School's state test result (87.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Valley School this school | 542 | 14.9% | 87.8% |
| Simmons Elementary School Horsham | 610 | 17.7% | 66.8% |
| Gladwyne School Gladwyne | 556 | 12.2% | 85.2% |
| Radnor Elementary School Radnor | 554 | 13.0% | 81.7% |
| Ridge Park Elementary School Conshohocken | 525 | 22.7% | 75.7% |
| Fort Washington Elementary School Fort Washington | 518 | 11.0% | 89.3% |
Matched among Pennsylvania elementary 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 Penn Valley School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Montgomery County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 87.8% | #20 of 1,396 | #4 of 91 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 85.0% | #48 of 1,511 ▼ 37 | #6 of 92 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 82.0% | #52 of 1,511 ▼ 29 | #7 of 92 ▼ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 542 | #410 of 1,638 | #28 of 96 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.0:1 | #443 of 1,528 | #36 of 96 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 57.6% | #379 of 1,531 | #47 of 96 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 14.9% | #1,511 of 1,600 | #86 of 95 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.2% | #285 of 1,045 | #19 of 61 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
542
-96 (-15%) vs 2020
+7% since 1990-91, when it was 507
Student : Teacher
12.0:1
was 12.3:1
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 | 542 | 45 | 12.0:1 | 15% (81) |
| 2023-24 | 500 | 44.3 | 11.3:1 | 16% (81) |
| 2022-23 | 514 | 45.3 | 11.3:1 | 17% (85) |
| 2020-21 | 638 | 52 | 12.3:1 | 13% (86) |
| 2017-18 | 679 | 52 | 13.1:1 | 14% (96) |
| 2015-16 | 704 | 47 | 15.0:1 | 12% (84) |
| 2010-11 | 517 | 39 | 13.3:1 | 6% (29) |
| 2000-01 | 453 | 35 | 12.9:1 | 12% (56) |
| 1990-91 | 507 | 36 | 14.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Penn Valley School.
Since 2017-18: students down 20% (679 to 542); teachers down 13% (52 to 45).
About Penn Valley School
As a mid-sized elementary school, Penn Valley School serves students in Narberth, Pennsylvania. The school counted 542 students in 2024-25, covering kindergarten through 4. It has 22% more students than the average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania (about 443).
Penn Valley School reports to Lower Merion SD, which has 11 schools and 8,533 students.
At Penn Valley School, 62% of students are White. It is also 13% multiracial, 9% Hispanic, 8% Black, and 8% Asian. For comparison, the population of Montgomery County is roughly 73% White. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Penn Valley School scores 58%.
Penn Valley School has 45 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 12.0:1. Elementary schools in Pennsylvania average 13.1:1, 1.0 more students per teacher than here. A common income measure, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, is 15% at Penn Valley School. The rate at public schools in Montgomery County averages 40%, higher than here.
On the allk12 Grade, Penn Valley School lands at A+, ahead of 98% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Schools in Pennsylvania with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to post an average proficiency rate across its state test results near 71.2%. Penn Valley School posts 87.8%, 16.6 points above that, which places it in the top 10% statewide on BeatsExpectations.
In Montgomery County, the median household earns about $113,915 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 53%, and about 4% of people live in poverty. Montgomery County has 160 public schools with about 115,302 students, including Penn Valley School.
Welsh Valley Middle School sits about 0.7 miles from Penn Valley School. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Of the 9 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Penn Valley School is 2nd on average proficiency.
The NCES locale for Penn Valley School is Suburb: Large, which covers schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, Penn Valley School had a net loss of 96 students, or 15%.
The allk12 page for Penn Valley School lets the school community talk about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. You can also rate the school on this page.
Montgomery County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
867,573
Census ACS
Median income
$113,915
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
53%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
160
115,302 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lower Merion SD
- Lower Merion High SchoolHigh · 1,674 students
- Harriton SHSHigh · 1,239 students
- Black Rock Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,077 students
- Bala-Cynwyd Middle SchoolMiddle · 794 students
- Welsh Valley Middle SchoolMiddle · 788 students
- Penn Wynne SchoolElementary · 621 students
Nearby schools
- Welsh Valley Middle School0.7 mi · 788
- Lower Merion High School1.1 mi · 1,674
- Gladwyne School1.1 mi · 556
- Bala-Cynwyd Middle School1.3 mi · 794
- Cynwyd School1.4 mi · 446
- Belmont Hills Elementary School1.4 mi · 358
Frequently asked questions
About Penn Valley SchoolHow many students attend Penn Valley School?
Penn Valley School enrolls approximately 542 students in grades KG-04.
What grades does Penn Valley School serve?
Penn Valley School serves grades KG-04.
How many students per teacher at Penn Valley School?
Approximately 12.0:1 students per teacher at Penn Valley School.
How diverse is Penn Valley School?
Penn Valley School reports a student body of 62% White, 9% Hispanic, 8% Black, 8% Asian, 13% Two or more.
What district is Penn Valley School in?
Penn Valley School is part of Lower Merion SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.