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What tradition at St Marys Area SHS should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
572
High
DISTRICT 461 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SAINT MARYS AREA SD·NCES 422064005169
St Marys Area SHS
977 S Saint Marys Rd, Saint Marys, PA 15857 · (814) 834-7831 · Elk County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL572 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.2:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.4:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
101%
577 students
DISTRICT 101% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Saint Marys Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
57.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -10.2pp since 2023
Math
35.5%
PA avg 43.0% . -11.3pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 36 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 10 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 11 points.
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
53.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.4%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+19.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 53% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 34% 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 19 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 →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
572
-135 (-19%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
14.2:1
was 15.9:1
% White
96%
was 97%
% Hispanic
1%
was 1%
% Black
0%
was 0%
% Asian
1%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About St Marys Area SHS
St Marys Area SHS, a close-knit 9-12 campus in Saint Marys, Pennsylvania, operated by Saint Marys Area SD, serves 572 students, covering grades 9 through 12. Compared to the state average of about 738 students per school, that is 22% below typical.
Within Saint Marys Area SD, which oversees 4 schools and 1,845 students, St Marys Area SHS is one campus in the system.
In terms of who attends, St Marys Area SHS lists that 96% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. Compared to Elk County overall, the school's racial mix sits in roughly the same range.
Looking at school resources, St Marys Area SHS shows 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 14.2:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 12.8:1 average. Roughly 101% of students at St Marys Area SHS qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Elk County's rate of about 89%.
On a demographically-adjusted basis, St Marys Area SHS is in the OUTPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations model, which fits a per-state line through proficiency and FRL share. Schools with this campus's poverty mix typically land near 34.4%; this one delivers 53.3%, a residual of +19.0 points.
Across the wider county, census data for Elk County shows the typical household earns roughly $66,380 per year, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 4%. In all, Elk County runs 10 public schools (combined enrollment of about 3,139 students), of which St Marys Area SHS is one.
Nearest neighbor: St Marys Area MS, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 3 other public schools. On composite proficiency, St Marys Area SHS comes 5th of 7 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 55.2%.
St Marys Area SHS operates from a rural location.
Trend over the last 7 years. St Marys Area SHS's enrollment has ticked down 19% since 2018, when it stood at 707 (now 572). Class-load math has pulled in: from 15.9:1 in 2018 to 14.2:1 in 2025.
On the community side, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Elk County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
30,506
Census ACS
Median income
$66,380
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
10
3,139 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Saint Marys Area SD
- South St Marys Street El SchElementary · 583 students
- St Marys Area MSMiddle · 459 students
- Fox Twp El SchElementary · 231 students
- Bennetts Valley El SchCombined
Other schools in Saint Marys
- South St Marys Street El SchElementary · 583 students
- St Marys Area MSMiddle · 459 students
Nearby schools
- St Marys Area MS0.2 mi · 459
- South St Marys Street El Sch1.6 mi · 583
- Fox Twp El Sch3.9 mi · 231
- Francis S Grandinetti El Sch8.1 mi · 359
- Ridgway Area MS8.9 mi · 198
- Ridgway Area HS8.9 mi · 224
Frequently asked questions
About St Marys Area SHSHow many students attend St Marys Area SHS?
St Marys Area SHS enrolls approximately 572 students in grades 09-12.
Is St Marys Area SHS an elementary, middle, or high school?
St Marys Area SHS is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at St Marys Area SHS?
The student-to-teacher ratio at St Marys Area SHS is approximately 14.2:1 (40 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at St Marys Area SHS?
Student demographics at St Marys Area SHS are roughly 96% White, 1% Hispanic, 1% Asian, 2% Two or more.
What district is St Marys Area SHS in?
St Marys Area SHS is part of Saint Marys Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.