Upper Dauphin Area MS

Set in Lykens, Pennsylvania, Upper Dauphin Area MS is a small middle-grades school, run under Upper Dauphin Area SD. It educates 302 students across grades 5 through 8. By comparison, Pennsylvania's public schools average about 594 students each, so Upper Dauphin Area MS sits 49% leaner than that benchmark.

Across the 3 schools in Upper Dauphin Area SD (1,006 students total), Upper Dauphin Area MS accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Upper Dauphin Area MS shows that nearly all students (87%) are White; the rest comes out to 6% Hispanic, 4% multiracial. That is visibly more White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 63%.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 23 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.1:1 students per teacher. The state averages about 13.2:1, putting this campus right in line with peers. Roughly 55% of students at Upper Dauphin Area MS qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Upper Dauphin Area MS falls in the UNDERPERFORMING tier of the BeatsExpectations residual. Given its student profile, a typical campus would land near 53.9%; this one comes in at 34.0%, -19.9 points off the demographic line.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Dauphin County) records that median household income runs about $76,242, roughly 34% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Dauphin County runs 75 public schools (combined enrollment of about 72,718 students), of which Upper Dauphin Area MS is one.

Nearest neighbor: Upper Dauphin Area El Sch, around 0.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 2 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Upper Dauphin Area MS ranks 7th on composite proficiency, beneath the local average of 44.2%.

Geographically, the school is in an outlying area.

Over the past 7-year window. Over the past 7-year window, the student count decreased 15%: 356 students in 2018 compared to 302 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share shrank from 92% to 87%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.7:1 in 2018 to 13.1:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.