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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Pickering Valley El Sch?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
423
Elementary
DISTRICT 540 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DOWNINGTOWN AREA SD·NCES 420771001432
Pickering Valley Elementary School
121 Byers Rd, Chester Springs, PA 19425 · (610) 458-5324 · Chester County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL423 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 95% 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.
- A-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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.0:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
9%
38 students
DISTRICT 15% · 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 | 45 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 61 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 86 | 20% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 65 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 79 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (45) is 43% smaller than its 5th grade class (79).
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
Pickering Valley Elementary School→Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center
Based on grade levels within Downingtown Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
86.2%
PA avg 51.1% . +2.1pp since 2023
Math
88.2%
PA avg 43.0% . +6.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 86 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 88 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 7 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 86.2% | 88.2% |
| 2023-24 | 84.1% | 81.3% |
% 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
86.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
73.8%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+12.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 86% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 74% 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 Pickering Valley Elementary School
Pickering Valley Elementary School's state test result (86.4% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickering Valley Elementary School this school | 423 | 9.0% | 86.4% |
| Green Ridge Elementary School Mechanicsburg | 474 | 29.3% | 79.9% |
| Exton Elementary School Exton | 533 | 14.1% | 72.0% |
| Devon Elementary School Devon | 401 | 5.7% | 84.5% |
| Mary C Howse Elementary School West Chester | 442 | 7.9% | 76.8% |
| West Vincent Elementary School Chester Springs | 530 | 10.0% | 82.9% |
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 Pickering Valley Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Chester County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 86.4% | #26 of 1,396 | #2 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 88.2% | #24 of 1,511 ▲ 36 | #1 of 56 ▲ 6 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 86.2% | #18 of 1,511 ▲ 41 | #1 of 56 ▲ 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 423 | #787 of 1,638 | #43 of 62 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.8:1 | #369 of 1,528 | #18 of 60 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.6% | #452 of 1,531 | #25 of 60 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 9.0% | #1,573 of 1,600 | #55 of 61 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.4% | #547 of 1,045 | #19 of 40 |
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
423
+10 (+2%) vs 2020
-14% since 1990-91, when it was 494
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
was 12.9:1
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 | 423 | 35.9 | 11.8:1 | 9% (38) |
| 2023-24 | 457 | 35.9 | 12.7:1 | 8% (38) |
| 2022-23 | 458 | 39.9 | 11.5:1 | 6% (29) |
| 2020-21 | 413 | 32 | 12.9:1 | 5% (19) |
| 2017-18 | 483 | 35.5 | 13.6:1 | 5% (24) |
| 2015-16 | 479 | 30 | 16.0:1 | 3% (16) |
| 2010-11 | 688 | 40 | 17.2:1 | 2% (13) |
| 2000-01 | 529 | 28 | 18.9:1 | 1% (4) |
| 1990-91 | 494 | 25 | 19.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pickering Valley Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (483 to 423); teachers up 1% (35.5 to 35.9).
About Pickering Valley Elementary School
Among the schools in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, is Pickering Valley Elementary School, a mid-sized elementary school. It reported 423 students in kindergarten through 5 in 2024-25.
Downingtown Area SD has 13,047 students in 16 schools, and Pickering Valley Elementary School is one of those schools.
More than half of the students at Pickering Valley Elementary School are Asian (59%). Other reported shares: 32% White, 4% Hispanic, and 3% multiracial. That compares with about 7% Asian among all Chester County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 55%.
A staff of 35.9 full-time-equivalent teachers puts the student-to-teacher ratio at 11.8:1. Compared with the 13.1:1 average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania, this school's ratio is lower. By family income, 9% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Chester County is 38%.
Pickering Valley Elementary School holds an A+ allk12 Grade, placing it above 95% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Schools in Pennsylvania with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to score about 73.8%. Pickering Valley Elementary School scores 86.4%.
Five-year Census Bureau estimates for Chester County show that median household income comes to about $127,208, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 57% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 4%. The county's public schools total 111, with about 83,468 students.
A public school about 1.7 miles away, Shamona Creek Elementary School, is the closest to Pickering Valley Elementary School. Pickering Valley Elementary School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Nearby schools with test data average 75.2% proficiency; Pickering Valley Elementary School posts 86.4%.
Under the NCES locale system, Pickering Valley Elementary School is Suburb: Large.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, enrollment moved from 413 to 423, a small change. Its ratio of students to teachers was 12.9:1 in 2020-21, and 11.8:1 in 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Pickering Valley Elementary School. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Chester County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
547,840
Census ACS
Median income
$127,208
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
111
83,468 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Downingtown Area SD
- Downingtown HS West CampusHigh · 1,796 students
- Downingtown HS East CampusHigh · 1,708 students
- Downingtown Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,074 students
- Marsh Creek Sixth Grade CenterMiddle · 1,066 students
- Lionville Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,045 students
- Downingtown STEM AcademyHigh · 962 students
Other schools in Chester Springs
- West Vincent Elementary SchoolElementary · 530 students
Nearby schools
- Shamona Creek Elementary School1.7 mi · 488
- Insight PA Cyber CS1.8 mi · 3,385
- Marsh Creek Sixth Grade Center1.9 mi · 1,066
- West Vincent Elementary School2.1 mi · 530
- Lionville Middle School2.6 mi · 1,045
- Achievement House CS2.7 mi · 927
Frequently asked questions
About Pickering Valley Elementary SchoolHow large is Pickering Valley Elementary School?
Pickering Valley Elementary School enrolls approximately 423 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Pickering Valley Elementary School serve?
Pickering Valley Elementary School serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Pickering Valley Elementary School?
Approximately 11.8:1 students per teacher at Pickering Valley Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Pickering Valley Elementary School?
At Pickering Valley Elementary School, the student body is approximately 32% White, 4% Hispanic, 1% Black, 59% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Pickering Valley Elementary School public or private?
Pickering Valley Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Downingtown Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.