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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
789
Elementary
DISTRICT 305 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PITTSBURGH SD·NCES 421917006022
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8
2332 Beechwood Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15217 · (412) 529-3525 · Allegheny County
GRADES KG–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL789 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 88% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- B+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
18.1:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.1:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
94%
741 students
DISTRICT 99% · 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 | 88 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 78 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 92 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 88 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 85 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 106 | 13% |
| Grade 6 | 96 | 12% |
| Grade 7 | 78 | 10% |
| Grade 8 | 78 | 10% |
This year's kindergarten class (88) is 13% larger than its 8th grade class (78).
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
65.9%
PA avg 51.1% . -5.7pp since 2023
Math
59.1%
PA avg 43.0% . -5.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 66 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 59 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 6 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 6 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 65.9% | 59.1% |
| 2023-24 | 71.6% | 64.9% |
% 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
66.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
37.3%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+29.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 67% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 37% 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 29 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 Pittsburgh Colfax K-8
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8's state test result (66.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 this school | 789 | 93.9% | 66.6% |
| Paxtonia Elementary School Harrisburg | 682 | 99.3% | 65.7% |
| North Side Elementary School Harrisburg | 722 | 97.6% | 55.4% |
| Greenfield Albert M School Philadelphia | 742 | 98.4% | 81.4% |
| Fitzpatrick Aloysius L School Philadelphia | 906 | 93.5% | 32.5% |
| Belmont Hills Elementary School Bensalem | 580 | 94.3% | 43.1% |
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 Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Allegheny County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 66.6% | #396 of 1,396 | #62 of 129 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 59.1% | #554 of 1,511 ▼ 191 | #70 of 141 ▼ 11 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 65.9% | #289 of 1,511 ▲ 1 | #57 of 141 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 789 | #86 of 1,638 | #10 of 156 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.1:1 | #1,495 of 1,528 | #138 of 141 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 68.4% | #128 of 1,531 | #9 of 141 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 93.9% | #603 of 1,600 | #56 of 152 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.0% | #606 of 1,045 | #39 of 73 |
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
789
-26 (-3%) vs 2020
+62% since 1990-91, when it was 486
Student : Teacher
18.1:1
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 | 789 | 43.7 | 18.1:1 | 94% (741) |
| 2023-24 | 741 | 45.2 | 16.4:1 | 100% (741) |
| 2022-23 | 732 | 54 | 13.6:1 | 100% (732) |
| 2020-21 | 815 | 63 | 12.9:1 | 100% (815) |
| 2017-18 | 887 | 57.5 | 15.4:1 | 27% (241) |
| 2015-16 | 862 | 46 | 18.7:1 | 27% (234) |
| 2010-11 | 679 | 48 | 14.2:1 | 30% (207) |
| 2000-01 | 326 | 22 | 14.8:1 | 67% (219) |
| 1990-91 | 486 | 22 | 22.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pittsburgh Colfax K-8.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (887 to 789); teachers down 24% (57.5 to 43.7).
About Pittsburgh Colfax K-8
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 is a high-enrollment elementary school. Its address is in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The school teaches kindergarten through 8 and enrolls 789 students. That puts enrollment 78% larger than the 443-student average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania.
Pittsburgh SD has 19,211 students spread across 56 schools.
Of every 100 students at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8, about 50 are White, the largest group. It is also 18% Black, 16% Asian, 8% multiracial, and 7% Hispanic. For comparison, the population of Allegheny County is roughly 76% White. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 68, compared with 70 nationally.
Classroom staffing at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 totals 43.7 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 18.1:1. The average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania, 13.1:1, is lower. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 is about 94%. Across public schools in Allegheny County, the average is 54%.
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 holds an A allk12 Grade, placing it above 88% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 would score about 37.3%. It scores 66.6%, a top-10% result among Pennsylvania schools on BeatsExpectations.
The school is in Allegheny County, where the median household earns about $78,548 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 46% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 shares Allegheny County with 276 other public schools.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, is about 0.3 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. On state test proficiency, Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 ranks 1st in a group of 7 nearby schools.
The school's federal locale classification is City: Large.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has fallen 3%, from 815 to 789. Students per teacher increased from 12.9 in 2020-21 to 18.1 in 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Allegheny County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,238,177
Census ACS
Median income
$78,548
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
277
141,392 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Pittsburgh SD
- Pittsburgh Allderdice High SchoolHigh · 1,386 students
- Pittsburgh Brashear High SchoolHigh · 897 students
- Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12High · 840 students
- Pittsburgh Obama 6-12High · 678 students
- Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy 6-12High · 618 students
- Pittsburgh WestinghouseHigh · 573 students
Other schools in Pittsburgh
- Mt Lebanon SHSHigh · 1,772 students
- Baldwin SHSHigh · 1,657 students
- North Hills High SchoolHigh · 1,443 students
- Pittsburgh Allderdice High SchoolHigh · 1,386 students
- Fox Chapel Area High SchoolHigh · 1,360 students
- Upper Saint Clair High SchoolHigh · 1,269 students
Nearby schools
- Pittsburgh Allderdice High School0.3 mi · 1,386
- Pittsburgh Minadeo K-50.8 mi · 296
- Pittsburgh Linden K-50.9 mi · 91
- Environmental CS at Frick Park1.0 mi · 1,073
- Pittsburgh Sterrett 6-81.1 mi · 183
- Dickson Prep STEAM Academy1.3 mi · 579
Frequently asked questions
About Pittsburgh Colfax K-8How large is Pittsburgh Colfax K-8?
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 enrolls approximately 789 students in grades KG-08.
What age range does Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 serve?
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 serves students from grade KG through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8?
Approximately 18.1:1 students per teacher at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8.
What is the student diversity at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8?
Student demographics at Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 are roughly 50% White, 7% Hispanic, 18% Black, 16% Asian, 8% Two or more.
What district is Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 in?
Pittsburgh Colfax K-8 is part of Pittsburgh SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.