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What's the biggest difference between Portage Area El Sch and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
401
Elementary
DISTRICT 370 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PORTAGE AREA SD·NCES 421956006771
Portage Area Elementary School
84 Mountain Ave, Portage, PA 15946 · (814) 736-9636 · Cambria County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL401 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 92% 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.
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
10.8:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.7:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
103%
413 students
DISTRICT 104% · 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 | 46 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 64 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 69 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 57 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 56 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 49 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 60 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (46) is 23% smaller than its 6th grade class (60).
Student demographics
11%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 11% · 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
Portage Area Elementary School→Portage Area JSHS
Based on grade levels within Portage Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
59.8%
PA avg 51.1% . -11.4pp since 2023
Math
71.0%
PA avg 43.0% . +5.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 71 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 11 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 59.8% | 71.0% |
| 2023-24 | 71.2% | 65.7% |
% 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
69.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
33.5%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+35.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 69% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 33% 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 36 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 →
Where Portage Area Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Cambria County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 69.0% | #320 of 1,396 | #1 of 11 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 71.0% | #257 of 1,511 ▲ 80 | #1 of 14 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 59.8% | #438 of 1,511 ▼ 131 | #3 of 14 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 401 | #878 of 1,638 | #7 of 16 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.8:1 | #178 of 1,528 | #3 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 10.5% | #1,413 of 1,531 | #8 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 103% | #174 of 1,600 | #4 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.3% | #405 of 1,045 | #6 of 11 |
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
401
-7 (-2%) vs 2020
-26% since 2010-11, when it was 543
Student : Teacher
10.8:1
was 12.0:1
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 | 401 | 37 | 10.8:1 | N/A |
| 2023-24 | 413 | 37 | 11.2:1 | 100% (413) |
| 2022-23 | 448 | 36 | 12.5:1 | 54% (244) |
| 2020-21 | 408 | 34 | 12.0:1 | 52% (212) |
| 2017-18 | 479 | 37.3 | 12.8:1 | 74% (353) |
| 2015-16 | 512 | 36 | 14.2:1 | 56% (285) |
| 2010-11 | 543 | 35 | 15.5:1 | 56% (306) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Portage Area Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (479 to 401); teachers down 1% (37.3 to 37).
About Portage Area Elementary School
The public elementary school Portage Area Elementary School is located in Portage, Pennsylvania. The school serves 401 students in pre-K through 6 in 2024-25.
District-wide, Portage Area SD has 2 schools and 740 students.
Portage Area Elementary School's enrollment is 95% White. The school is also 2% multiracial and 2% Hispanic. For comparison, Cambria County is about 91% White. The school's diversity index is 11%, meaning two students picked at random have an 11% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The school reports 37 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 10.8 students per teacher. That is 2.2 students per teacher below the 13.1:1 average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania.
allk12 grades Portage Area Elementary School an A. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
Test results at Portage Area Elementary School are 35.5 points above what its student poverty level predicts. The average proficiency rate on state tests is 69.0%, compared with a predicted 33.5%, which ranks in the top 10% in Pennsylvania.
According to the American Community Survey, in Cambria County, the median household income is $58,418, 24% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 9% of people live in poverty. Portage Area Elementary School is one of 37 public schools in the county.
The next-closest public school is Portage Area JSHS, about 0.2 miles away. Portage Area Elementary School is one of several public schools in the area, with 3 others within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Portage Area Elementary School at 2nd of 5.
Locale: Rural: Fringe. In NCES terms, the school is in rural territory close to an urban area.
The student count changed little between 2020-21 (408) and 2024-25 (401). Its ratio of students to teachers was 12.0:1 in 2020-21, and 10.8:1 in 2024-25.
The Portage Area Elementary School community page is open for posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Cambria County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
131,538
Census ACS
Median income
$58,418
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
37
15,789 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Nearby schools
- Portage Area JSHS0.2 mi · 339
- Penn Cambria Intrmd School3.2 mi · 290
- Penn Cambria Primary School3.6 mi · 175
- Forest Hills JSHS6.0 mi · 798
- Forest Hills Elementary School6.1 mi · 994
- Penn Cambria High School7.0 mi · 538
Frequently asked questions
About Portage Area Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Portage Area Elementary School?
Portage Area Elementary School enrolls approximately 401 students in grades PK-06.
What age range does Portage Area Elementary School serve?
Portage Area Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 06.
How many students per teacher at Portage Area Elementary School?
Approximately 10.8:1 students per teacher at Portage Area Elementary School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Portage Area Elementary School?
At Portage Area Elementary School, the student body is approximately 95% White, 2% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Who oversees Portage Area Elementary School?
Portage Area Elementary School is overseen by Portage Area SD in Cambria County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.