1
Enrollment
399
Elementary
DISTRICT 292 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PALMERTON AREA SD·NCES 421836007222
S S Palmer Elementary School
298 Lafayette Ave, Palmerton, PA 18071 · (610) 826-7538 · Carbon County
GRADES 02–06ELEMENTARY31-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL399 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 29% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-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
11.0:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
59%
234 students
DISTRICT 49% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 2 | 67 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 85 | 21% |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 20% |
| Grade 5 | 83 | 21% |
| Grade 6 | 86 | 22% |
Student demographics
24%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 22% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Palmerton Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
45.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -3.6pp since 2023
Math
39.4%
PA avg 43.0% . +2.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 46 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 39 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 45.5% | 39.4% |
| 2023-24 | 49.1% | 37.2% |
% 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
46.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
52.5%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-5.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 52% 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 S S Palmer Elementary School
S S Palmer Elementary School's state test result (46.7% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| S S Palmer Elementary School this school | 399 | 58.6% | 46.7% |
| Stourbridge Primary Center Honesdale | 415 | 57.3% | N/A |
| Lakeside Elementary School Honesdale | 419 | 56.6% | 65.8% |
| Washington Elementary School Bangor | 375 | 57.3% | 66.0% |
| Upper Dauphin Area Elementary School Lykens | 373 | 59.8% | 60.2% |
| Schuylkill Haven El Center Schuylkill Haven | 451 | 59.2% | 58.3% |
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 S S Palmer Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Carbon County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.7% | #943 of 1,396 | #3 of 6 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 39.4% | #1,014 of 1,511 ▼ 10 | #4 of 7 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 45.5% | #864 of 1,511 ▲ 70 | #2 of 7 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 399 | #889 of 1,638 | #5 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.0:1 | #201 of 1,528 | #2 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 23.8% | #1,103 of 1,531 | #6 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 58.6% | #838 of 1,600 | #5 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.1% | #603 of 1,045 | N/A |
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
399
+1 (+0%) vs 2020
-46% since 1990-91, when it was 737
Student : Teacher
11.0:1
was 12.4:1
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 | 399 | 36.3 | 11.0:1 | 59% (234) |
| 2023-24 | 392 | 36.3 | 10.8:1 | 60% (234) |
| 2022-23 | 403 | 35.6 | 11.3:1 | 55% (220) |
| 2020-21 | 398 | 32 | 12.4:1 | 43% (173) |
| 2017-18 | 449 | 28.1 | 16.0:1 | 42% (189) |
| 2015-16 | 467 | 28 | 16.7:1 | 100% (467) |
| 2010-11 | 467 | 26 | 18.0:1 | 40% (189) |
| 2000-01 | 734 | 36 | 20.4:1 | 26% (189) |
| 1990-91 | 737 | 37 | 19.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for S S Palmer Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (449 to 399); teachers up 29% (28.1 to 36.3).
About S S Palmer Elementary School
S S Palmer Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school with its address in Palmerton, Pennsylvania. The school's 399 students are in grades 2 through 6.
The 5 schools of Palmerton Area SD, including S S Palmer Elementary School, enroll 1,616 students.
S S Palmer Elementary School enrolls a student body that is 87% White. The school is also 10% Hispanic and 2% multiracial. For comparison, Carbon County is about 89% White. By the diversity index, S S Palmer Elementary School comes in at 24%.
The school's student-to-teacher ratio is about 11.0:1, with 36.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average ratio among elementary schools in Pennsylvania is 13.1:1, higher than at this school. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 59% of enrollment.
The allk12 Grade for S S Palmer Elementary School is C. Compared with Pennsylvania public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 29% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Compared with Pennsylvania schools that have similar shares of low-income students, S S Palmer Elementary School's results are 5.8 points below predicted: 46.7% against 52.5%.
Carbon County has these Census figures: median household income is about $67,554, about 19% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 8%. S S Palmer Elementary School is among the 18 public schools in Carbon County.
The shortest distance from S S Palmer Elementary School to another public school is about 0.2 miles, to Parkside Education Center. A five-mile radius around the school includes 7 other public schools. On state test proficiency, S S Palmer Elementary School ranks 6th in a group of 8 nearby schools.
Its NCES locale code is Town: Fringe: the school is in a town close to an urbanized area.
Enrollment has been fairly stable: 398 in 2020-21 and 399 in 2024-25. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio fell from 12.4:1 to 11.0:1.
The S S Palmer Elementary School community page is open for posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Carbon County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
65,382
Census ACS
Median income
$67,554
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
18
8,111 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Palmerton Area SD
- Palmerton Area High SchoolHigh · 478 students
- Towamensing Elementary SchoolElementary · 328 students
- Palmerton Area Junior High SchoolMiddle · 261 students
- Parkside Education CenterElementary · 150 students
Other schools in Palmerton
- Palmerton Area High SchoolHigh · 478 students
- Palmerton Area Junior High SchoolMiddle · 261 students
- Parkside Education CenterElementary · 150 students
Nearby schools
- Parkside Education Center0.2 mi · 150
- Palmerton Area Junior High School0.6 mi · 261
- Palmerton Area High School0.6 mi · 478
- Slatington Elementary School2.6 mi · 487
- Northern Lehigh SHS2.9 mi · 502
- Northern Lehigh Middle School2.9 mi · 238
Frequently asked questions
About S S Palmer Elementary SchoolHow large is S S Palmer Elementary School?
S S Palmer Elementary School enrolls approximately 399 students in grades 02-06.
What grades does S S Palmer Elementary School serve?
S S Palmer Elementary School serves grades 02-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at S S Palmer Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at S S Palmer Elementary School is approximately 11.0:1 (36 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at S S Palmer Elementary School?
At S S Palmer Elementary School, the student body is approximately 87% White, 10% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is S S Palmer Elementary School public or private?
S S Palmer Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Palmerton Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.