1
What's the vibe like in the hallways at Southern Lehigh MS right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
471
Middle
DISTRICT 587 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SOUTHERN LEHIGH SD·NCES 422235004808
Southern Lehigh Middle School
3715 Preston Lane, Center Valley, PA 18034 · (610) 282-3700 · Lehigh County
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL471 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 82% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.7:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
18%
87 students
DISTRICT 17% · 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 | 223 | 47% |
| Grade 8 | 248 | 53% |
Student demographics
33%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 36% · 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
Southern Lehigh Middle School→Southern Lehigh SHS
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Southern Lehigh SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
68.9%
PA avg 51.1% . -8.0pp since 2023
Math
56.5%
PA avg 43.0% . +4.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 5 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 68.9% | 56.5% |
| 2023-24 | 76.9% | 51.6% |
% 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
65.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
69.7%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 66% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 70% 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 Southern Lehigh Middle School
Southern Lehigh Middle School's state test result (65.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Lehigh Middle School this school | 471 | 18.5% | 65.7% |
| Jefferson Middle School Pittsburgh | 621 | 17.6% | 76.6% |
| Haine Middle School Cranberry Twp | 522 | 24.7% | 66.5% |
| Perkiomen Valley MS-East Collegeville | 592 | 22.0% | 67.1% |
| Neil Armstrong 5-6 Middle School Bethel Park | 597 | 21.9% | 67.5% |
| Independence Middle School Bethel Park | 602 | 19.1% | 63.9% |
Matched among Pennsylvania middle 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 Southern Lehigh Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lehigh County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 65.7% | #63 of 479 | #3 of 16 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 56.5% | #77 of 513 ▲ 18 | #3 of 17 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 68.9% | #77 of 513 ▼ 33 | #3 of 17 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 471 | #324 of 522 | #13 of 17 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.8:1 | #123 of 486 | #4 of 17 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 33.3% | #297 of 486 | #16 of 17 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 18.5% | #468 of 510 | #16 of 17 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.5% | #154 of 332 | #3 of 11 |
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. 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
471
-53 (-10%) vs 2020
-4% since 1990-91, when it was 491
Student : Teacher
11.8:1
was 13.4:1
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 | 471 | 40 | 11.8:1 | 18% (87) |
| 2023-24 | 483 | 34.3 | 14.1:1 | 18% (87) |
| 2022-23 | 466 | 36.3 | 12.9:1 | 16% (73) |
| 2020-21 | 524 | 39 | 13.4:1 | 17% (91) |
| 2017-18 | 532 | 41.9 | 12.7:1 | 12% (66) |
| 2015-16 | 518 | 41 | 12.6:1 | 12% (62) |
| 2010-11 | 494 | 39 | 12.7:1 | 11% (53) |
| 2000-01 | 696 | 45 | 15.5:1 | 5% (33) |
| 1990-91 | 491 | 37 | 13.3:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Southern Lehigh Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (532 to 471); teachers down 5% (41.9 to 40).
About Southern Lehigh Middle School
As a small middle school, Southern Lehigh Middle School serves students in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. The school runs grades 7 through 8 and enrolls 471 students. Middle schools in Pennsylvania have about 594 students on average; enrollment here is 21% lower.
Southern Lehigh SD is responsible for 5 schools, Southern Lehigh Middle School included, with 3,057 students in all.
Southern Lehigh Middle School is 81% White by enrollment. The school is also 8% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and 3% Black. That is higher than the 62% White share among all Lehigh County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 33%.
Its staff includes 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 11.8 students per teacher. Compared with the 13.2:1 average for middle schools in Pennsylvania, this school's ratio is lower. Roughly 18% of students at Southern Lehigh Middle School can receive free or reduced-price lunch. That is lower than the 70% average for public schools in Lehigh County.
Southern Lehigh Middle School holds an A- allk12 Grade, placing it above 82% of Pennsylvania public middle schools.
The model predicts 69.7% for a school in Pennsylvania with Southern Lehigh Middle School's free or reduced-price lunch share. Southern Lehigh Middle School posts 65.7%.
American Community Survey estimates for Lehigh County show that the median household earns about $80,079 a year, about 34% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 8%. Across Lehigh County, 83 public schools serve about 56,984 students.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Southern Lehigh SHS, is about 0.2 miles. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Ranked by average proficiency, Southern Lehigh Middle School places 5th out of 9 schools in its immediate area.
In the federal locale system, Southern Lehigh Middle School is coded Suburb: Large, for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
The school's student count decreased 10% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years. The school's ratio dropped from 13.4:1 to 11.8:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Southern Lehigh Middle School. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Lehigh County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
378,792
Census ACS
Median income
$80,079
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
56,984 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Southern Lehigh SD
- Southern Lehigh SHSHigh · 1,013 students
- Southern Lehigh Intermediate SchoolMiddle · 702 students
- Liberty Bell Elementary SchoolElementary · 445 students
- Hopewell Elementary SchoolElementary · 426 students
Other schools in Center Valley
- Southern Lehigh SHSHigh · 1,013 students
- Hopewell Elementary SchoolElementary · 426 students
Nearby schools
- Southern Lehigh SHS0.2 mi · 1,013
- Southern Lehigh Intermediate School0.3 mi · 702
- Hopewell Elementary School1.3 mi · 426
- Liberty Bell Elementary School1.7 mi · 445
- Arts Academy CS3.7 mi · 296
- Salisbury Elementary School3.8 mi · 461
Frequently asked questions
About Southern Lehigh Middle SchoolHow many students attend Southern Lehigh Middle School?
Southern Lehigh Middle School enrolls approximately 471 students in grades 07-08.
Is Southern Lehigh Middle School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Southern Lehigh Middle School is a middle school covering grades 07-08.
How many teachers does Southern Lehigh Middle School have?
Southern Lehigh Middle School employs 40 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.8:1.
How diverse is Southern Lehigh Middle School?
Southern Lehigh Middle School reports a student body of 81% White, 8% Hispanic, 3% Black, 8% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees Southern Lehigh Middle School?
Southern Lehigh Middle School is overseen by Southern Lehigh SD in Lehigh County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.