Russell Byers CS

Set in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Russell Byers CS is a sizable elementary school, run under Russell Byers CS. It caters to 686 students across grades pre-K through 8. That puts it 55% bigger than the typical public school in Pennsylvania, which averages around 443 students.

Russell Byers CS sits inside Russell Byers CS, the local public-school operator responsible for the campus.

Demographically, Russell Byers CS reports that nearly all students (93%) are Black; the rest comes out to 3% Hispanic. The wider county runs roughly 39% Black, putting the school's mix noticeably more Black than the area baseline.

On the resource side, The school lists 41 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 16.7:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 13.1:1 average. Roughly 97% of students at Russell Byers CS qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Russell Byers CS is in the bottom 10% of Pennsylvania public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 35.9%; Russell Byers CS posts 18.6%, -17.3 points below that line.

Around the school, Philadelphia County reports that median household earnings sit near $61,953, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 17%. Across Philadelphia County's 309 public schools (combined enrollment of about 182,005 students), Russell Byers CS is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Philadelphia Electrical & Technology CHS, around 0.2 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Russell Byers CS comes 6th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 45.6%.

Russell Byers CS operates from a downtown location. As a public charter, Russell Byers CS runs on public funding but with greater curricular and operational autonomy than a typical district school.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Russell Byers CS has edged up 18%, going from 579 students in 2018 to 686 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share edged down from 6% to 1%.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.