1
What's the one class at Plum MS every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
550
Middle
DISTRICT 532 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PLUM BOROUGH SD·NCES 421935005105
Plum Middle School
440 Presque Isle Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15239 · (724) 733-2400 · Allegheny County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL550 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
33 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.2:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
32%
175 students
DISTRICT 34% · 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 7 | 267 | 49% |
| Grade 8 | 283 | 51% |
Student demographics
28%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 29% · 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
Plum Middle School→Plum SHS
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Plum Borough SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
54.7%
PA avg 51.1% . +2.1pp since 2023
Math
39.7%
PA avg 43.0% . +4.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 40 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 5 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 54.7% | 39.7% |
| 2023-24 | 52.6% | 35.2% |
% 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
47.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
64.0%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-16.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 48% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 64% 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 →
Where Plum Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Allegheny County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 47.8% | #246 of 479 | #31 of 47 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 39.7% | #222 of 513 | #29 of 51 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.7% | #217 of 513 | #30 of 51 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 550 | #266 of 522 | #31 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.6:1 | #458 of 486 | #44 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 28.3% | #328 of 486 | #36 of 46 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 31.8% | #401 of 510 | #30 of 51 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.2% | #270 of 332 | #22 of 27 |
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.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
550
-71 (-11%) vs 2020
-10% since 1990-91, when it was 611
Student : Teacher
16.6:1
was 17.7:1
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 | 550 | 33.1 | 16.6:1 | 32% (175) |
| 2023-24 | 547 | 32.6 | 16.8:1 | 32% (175) |
| 2022-23 | 557 | 32.3 | 17.2:1 | 25% (137) |
| 2020-21 | 621 | 35 | 17.7:1 | 21% (129) |
| 2017-18 | 574 | 43.7 | 13.1:1 | 26% (147) |
| 2015-16 | 602 | 44 | 13.7:1 | 27% (163) |
| 2010-11 | 643 | 46 | 14.0:1 | 12% (78) |
| 2000-01 | 713 | 43 | 16.6:1 | 13% (95) |
| 1990-91 | 611 | 36 | 17.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Plum Middle School.
About Plum Middle School
Among the schools in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is Plum Middle School, a medium-sized middle-grades school. Classes run from 7 through 8, and the school has 550 students.
Plum Middle School is part of a district of 5 schools: Plum Borough SD, with 3,535 students.
Plum Middle School's enrollment is 84% White. The school is also 7% Black and 6% multiracial. That is higher than the 76% White share among all Allegheny County residents. The school's diversity index is 28%, meaning two students picked at random have a 28% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The teaching staff at Plum Middle School is 33.1 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 16.6:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 13.2:1 average for middle schools in Pennsylvania. About 32% of students, or 175, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Public schools in Allegheny County average 54%.
Plum Middle School's average proficiency rate on state tests of 47.8% is 16.2 points below the 64.0% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Within Allegheny County, the median household income is $78,548, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 46%, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Besides Plum Middle School, Allegheny County has 276 other public schools.
Holiday Park Intermediate School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles away. The five-mile area around Plum Middle School holds at least 8 other public schools. Nearby schools average 67.8% on proficiency, and Plum Middle School is below that at 47.8%.
NCES assigns Plum Middle School the locale Suburb: Large, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Over 4 years, Plum Middle School's enrollment declined 11%, to 550. The number of students per teacher fell from 17.7 to 16.6 over 4 years.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
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 Plum Borough SD
- Plum SHSHigh · 1,220 students
- Pivik Elementary SchoolElementary · 740 students
- Holiday Park Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 513 students
- O'Block Elementary SchoolElementary · 512 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
- Holiday Park Intermediate School0.1 mi · 513
- University Park Elementary School1.7 mi · 328
- Forbes Road Career and Technology Center2.3 mi · 19
- O'Block Elementary School2.4 mi · 512
- Pivik Elementary School2.6 mi · 740
- Franklin Regional Primary School2.8 mi · 619
Frequently asked questions
About Plum Middle SchoolHow many students attend Plum Middle School?
Plum Middle School enrolls approximately 550 students in grades 07-08.
What grades does Plum Middle School serve?
Plum Middle School serves grades 07-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Plum Middle School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Plum Middle School is approximately 16.6:1 (33 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Plum Middle School?
At Plum Middle School, the student body is approximately 84% White, 2% Hispanic, 7% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Plum Middle School public or private?
Plum Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Plum Borough SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.