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What do you wish you knew before starting at Tamaqua Area SHS?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
613
High
DISTRICT 512 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TAMAQUA AREA SD·NCES 422322005070
Tamaqua Area SHS
500 Penn St, Tamaqua, PA 18252 · (570) 668-1901 · Schuylkill County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL613 STUDENTS
B
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 63% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- BTest 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 high schools
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
45 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.4:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
57%
352 students
DISTRICT 57% · 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, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 134 | 22% |
| Grade 10 | 146 | 24% |
| Grade 11 | 174 | 28% |
| Grade 12 | 159 | 26% |
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Tamaqua Area SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
60.4%
PA avg 51.1% . -6.3pp since 2023
Math
46.2%
PA avg 43.0% . -21.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 46 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 6 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 21 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 60.4% | 46.2% |
| 2023-24 | 66.7% | 67.3% |
% 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
54.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
53.0%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 53% 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 Tamaqua Area SHS
Tamaqua Area SHS's state test result (54.5% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tamaqua Area SHS this school | 613 | 57.4% | 54.5% |
| Juniata SHS Mifflintown | 485 | 57.9% | 51.7% |
| Pequea Valley High School Kinzers | 451 | 55.0% | 53.1% |
| Jim Thorpe Area High School Jim Thorpe | 490 | 61.4% | 55.9% |
| Milton High School Milton | 608 | 52.5% | 57.5% |
| Lehighton Area High School Lehighton | 630 | 51.7% | 60.5% |
Matched among Pennsylvania high 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 Tamaqua Area SHS ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Schuylkill County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 54.5% | #233 of 576 | #2 of 10 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 46.2% | #235 of 626 ▼ 183 | #1 of 10 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.4% | #294 of 626 ▼ 69 | #3 of 10 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 613 | #326 of 713 | #4 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.8:1 | #288 of 601 | #6 of 10 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.2% | #257 of 604 | #4 of 10 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 57.4% | #291 of 619 | #5 of 10 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -7.4% | #235 of 373 | N/A |
Ranked against other public high 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
613
-87 (-12%) vs 2020
-10% since 1990-91, when it was 683
Student : Teacher
13.8:1
was 16.7:1
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 | 613 | 44.5 | 13.8:1 | 57% (352) |
| 2023-24 | 654 | 45 | 14.6:1 | 54% (352) |
| 2022-23 | 691 | 44 | 15.7:1 | 51% (349) |
| 2020-21 | 700 | 42 | 16.7:1 | 36% (253) |
| 2017-18 | 662 | 43.7 | 15.1:1 | 45% (298) |
| 2015-16 | 651 | 46 | 14.2:1 | 35% (225) |
| 2010-11 | 659 | 36 | 18.3:1 | 28% (185) |
| 2000-01 | 670 | 40 | 16.8:1 | 15% (99) |
| 1990-91 | 683 | 50 | 13.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Tamaqua Area SHS.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (662 to 613); teachers up 2% (43.7 to 44.5).
About Tamaqua Area SHS
Families in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, are served by Tamaqua Area SHS, a low-enrollment high school. The school enrolls 613 students in grades 9 through 12.
A total of 4 schools make up Tamaqua Area SD, with 2,048 students enrolled.
White students are 79% of those enrolled at Tamaqua Area SHS. Next come 17% Hispanic and 3% Black. That compares with about 88% White among all Schuylkill County residents. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 35%.
Tamaqua Area SHS reported 44.5 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25, a ratio of 13.8:1. High schools in Pennsylvania have an average ratio of 12.8:1. Roughly 57% of students at Tamaqua Area SHS can receive free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is below the 66% average among public schools in Schuylkill County.
Among Pennsylvania public high schools, Tamaqua Area SHS outscored 63%, which works out to a B on the allk12 Grade.
Test results at Tamaqua Area SHS are 1.5 points above what its free or reduced-price lunch share predicts (54.5% actual, 53.0% predicted).
For Schuylkill County, Census Bureau data show the median household earns about $68,313 a year, 20% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 8% of people live in poverty. Counting Tamaqua Area SHS, Schuylkill County has 35 public schools.
Of the public schools around it, Tamaqua Area SHS is closest to Tamaqua Area Middle School, less than a tenth of a mile away. There are 2 other public schools within five miles. Nearby schools average 32.0% on proficiency, and Tamaqua Area SHS is above that at 54.5%.
NCES lists the school's locale as Rural: Fringe. That means it sits in rural territory close to an urban area.
The school's student count decreased 12% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years. The school's ratio dropped from 16.7:1 to 13.8:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Tamaqua Area SHS. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Schuylkill County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
143,558
Census ACS
Median income
$68,313
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
20%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
35
18,259 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Tamaqua Area SD
- Tamaqua Elementary SchoolElementary · 697 students
- Tamaqua Area Middle SchoolMiddle · 488 students
- West Penn Twp Elementary SchoolElementary · 250 students
Other schools in Tamaqua
- Tamaqua Elementary SchoolElementary · 697 students
- Tamaqua Area Middle SchoolMiddle · 488 students
Nearby schools
- Tamaqua Area Middle School0.1 mi · 488
- Tamaqua Elementary School0.8 mi · 697
- West Penn Twp Elementary School6.4 mi · 250
- McAdoo-Kelayres El/MS7.3 mi · 900
- Panther Valley JSHS7.5 mi · 759
- Panther Valley Intermediate School7.6 mi · 458
Frequently asked questions
About Tamaqua Area SHSHow large is Tamaqua Area SHS?
Tamaqua Area SHS enrolls approximately 613 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Tamaqua Area SHS serve?
Tamaqua Area SHS serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Tamaqua Area SHS have?
Tamaqua Area SHS employs 45 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.8:1.
What is the student diversity at Tamaqua Area SHS?
Student demographics at Tamaqua Area SHS are roughly 79% White, 17% Hispanic, 3% Black, 0% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Is Tamaqua Area SHS public or private?
Tamaqua Area SHS is a public K-12 school, overseen by Tamaqua Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.