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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Smoketown El Sch?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
470
Elementary
DISTRICT 419 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CONESTOGA VALLEY SD·NCES 420648002521
Smoketown Elementary School
500 Mount Sidney Road, Lancaster, PA 17602 · (717) 394-0555 · Lancaster County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL470 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
12.4:1
38 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
50%
233 students
DISTRICT 54% · 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 | 71 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 83 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 71 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 88 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 78 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 79 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (71) is 10% smaller than its 5th grade class (79).
Student demographics
63%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
Based on grade levels within Conestoga Valley SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
34.9%
PA avg 51.1% . -22.2pp since 2023
Math
41.4%
PA avg 43.0% . -4.0pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 35 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 41 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 22 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 4 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 34.9% | 41.4% |
| 2023-24 | 57.1% | 45.4% |
% 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
48.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.4%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-7.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% 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 Smoketown Elementary School
Smoketown Elementary School's state test result (48.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoketown Elementary School this school | 470 | 49.6% | 48.6% |
| Spring Garden Elementary School Bethlehem | 532 | 47.7% | 54.8% |
| Salisbury Elementary School Allentown | 461 | 52.7% | 59.8% |
| Jacksonwald Elementary School Reading | 370 | 50.8% | 53.0% |
| Lorane Elementary School Reading | 456 | 45.0% | 51.4% |
| Shiloh Hills Elementary School Sinking Spring | 572 | 46.7% | 61.6% |
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 Smoketown Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lancaster County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.6% | #904 of 1,396 | #49 of 60 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 41.4% | #976 of 1,511 ▼ 112 | #47 of 62 ▼ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 34.9% | #1,119 of 1,511 ▼ 405 | #52 of 62 ▼ 15 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 470 | #619 of 1,638 | #19 of 67 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.4:1 | #552 of 1,528 | #22 of 65 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 63.2% | #253 of 1,531 | #12 of 65 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 49.6% | #1,011 of 1,600 | #37 of 65 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -26.2% | #156 of 1,045 | #6 of 49 |
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
470
+16 (+4%) vs 2020
-16% since 1990-91, when it was 557
Student : Teacher
12.4:1
was 10.6:1
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 | 470 | 38 | 12.4:1 | 50% (233) |
| 2023-24 | 449 | 37 | 12.1:1 | 52% (233) |
| 2022-23 | 435 | 36.2 | 12.0:1 | 48% (208) |
| 2020-21 | 454 | 43 | 10.6:1 | 36% (165) |
| 2017-18 | 637 | 44.9 | 14.2:1 | 41% (263) |
| 2015-16 | 675 | 43 | 15.7:1 | 45% (305) |
| 2010-11 | 644 | 42 | 15.3:1 | 39% (253) |
| 2000-01 | 692 | 34 | 20.4:1 | 15% (107) |
| 1990-91 | 557 | 26 | 21.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Smoketown Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 26% (637 to 470); teachers down 15% (44.9 to 38).
About Smoketown Elementary School
Smoketown Elementary School runs as a mid-sized elementary school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Federal data show 470 students enrolled in kindergarten through 5 in 2024-25.
Conestoga Valley SD counts 3,830 students in its 6 schools, and Smoketown Elementary School is one of them.
The share of White students at Smoketown Elementary School is 52%, a majority. It is also 29% Hispanic, 10% Black, 7% multiracial, and 2% Asian. For comparison, the population of Lancaster County is roughly 82% White. On a 0 to 100 scale, the school's diversity index is 63, compared with 70 nationally.
With 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 12.4:1. The average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania is 13.1:1, so this school has fewer students per teacher. Student poverty is often measured by lunch eligibility; at Smoketown Elementary School, 50% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Smoketown Elementary School holds a C allk12 Grade, placing it above 29% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Smoketown Elementary School posts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 48.6%, compared with a predicted 56.4%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of Pennsylvania schools on BeatsExpectations.
The county, Lancaster County, is where the school is located. Median household income comes to about $86,959, about 32% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 5% of residents are in poverty. The county has 114 public schools and about 62,719 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Conestoga Valley SHS, is about 0.4 miles. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Smoketown Elementary School is 3rd of 7 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
Locale: Rural: Fringe. In NCES terms, the school is in rural territory close to an urban area.
Over the 4 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment increased 4%. The number of students per teacher increased from 10.6 to 12.4 over 4 years.
Smoketown Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as special education services, counseling, and support programs. You can also rate the school on this page.
Lancaster County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
557,931
Census ACS
Median income
$86,959
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
32%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
114
62,719 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Conestoga Valley SD
- Conestoga Valley SHSHigh · 1,304 students
- Gerald G Huesken Middle SchoolMiddle · 851 students
- Fritz Elementary SchoolElementary · 526 students
- Brownstown Elementary SchoolElementary · 392 students
- Leola Elementary SchoolElementary · 287 students
Other schools in Lancaster
- McCaskey CampusHigh · 2,600 students
- Manheim Twp High SchoolHigh · 1,953 students
- Conestoga Valley SHSHigh · 1,304 students
- Landis Run Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 929 students
- Manheim Twp Middle SchoolMiddle · 914 students
- Gerald G Huesken Middle SchoolMiddle · 851 students
Nearby schools
- Conestoga Valley SHS0.4 mi · 1,304
- Gerald G Huesken Middle School0.4 mi · 851
- Leola Elementary School1.0 mi · 287
- Fritz Elementary School2.1 mi · 526
- Burrowes Elementary School3.7 mi · 308
- Lincoln Middle School3.7 mi · 465
Frequently asked questions
About Smoketown Elementary SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Smoketown Elementary School?
Smoketown Elementary School enrolls approximately 470 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does Smoketown Elementary School serve?
Smoketown Elementary School serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Smoketown Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Smoketown Elementary School is approximately 12.4:1 (38 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Smoketown Elementary School?
Student demographics at Smoketown Elementary School are roughly 52% White, 29% Hispanic, 10% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Smoketown Elementary School public or private?
Smoketown Elementary School is a public K-12 school, overseen by Conestoga Valley SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.