Enrollment
284
High
DISTRICT 689 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PHILADELPHIA CITY SD·NCES 421899007661
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School
2300 W Master St, Philadelphia, PA 19121 · (267) 687-1172 · Philadelphia County
GRADES 09–12HIGH11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL284 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 4% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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
20.9:1
14 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.7:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
281 students
DISTRICT 99% · STATE 75%
Community
0
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 | 60 | 21% |
| Grade 10 | 94 | 33% |
| Grade 11 | 66 | 23% |
| Grade 12 | 64 | 23% |
Student demographics
22%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 71% · 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
QUIET COMMUNITY
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START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
25.0%
PA avg 51.1% . +4.3pp since 2023
Math
6.5%
PA avg 43.0% . +3.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 7 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are up about 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 25.0% | 6.5% |
| 2023-24 | 20.7% | 3.3% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
10.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
35.2%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-24.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 11% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 35% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Vaux HS: A Big Picture School
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School's state test result (10.7% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vaux HS: A Big Picture School this school | 284 | 98.9% | 10.7% |
| Multicultural Academy CS Philadelphia | 254 | 96.1% | 42.0% |
| YouthBuild Phila CS Philadelphia | 271 | 94.5% | N/A |
| Urban Pathways 6-12 CS Pittsburgh | 325 | 94.8% | 10.8% |
| Parkway Northwest Philadelphia | 238 | 91.6% | 24.0% |
| Sayre William L Middle School Philadelphia | 447 | 94.9% | 13.5% |
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 Vaux HS: A Big Picture School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Philadelphia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 10.7% | #560 of 576 | #51 of 57 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 6.5% | #580 of 626 ▲ 16 | #47 of 67 ▲ 8 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 25.0% | #582 of 626 ▲ 20 | #48 of 67 ▲ 13 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 284 | #560 of 713 | #57 of 70 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.9:1 | #576 of 601 | #47 of 65 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 22.0% | #367 of 604 | #46 of 65 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.9% | #145 of 619 | #29 of 67 |
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
284
-69 (-20%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
20.9:1
was 29.4:1
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 | 284 | 13.6 | 20.9:1 | 99% (281) |
| 2023-24 | 302 | 23.1 | 13.1:1 | 99% (299) |
| 2022-23 | 270 | 20.6 | 13.1:1 | 99% (267) |
| 2020-21 | 353 | 12 | 29.4:1 | 99% (350) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Vaux HS: A Big Picture School.
About Vaux HS: A Big Picture School
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School is a small high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, under Philadelphia City SD. The school reports 284 students in grades 9 through 12. The school's enrollment is 62% smaller than the 738 average for high schools in Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia City SD enrolls 116,230 students, and its 220 schools include Vaux HS: A Big Picture School.
Black students are the large majority at Vaux HS: A Big Picture School, with 88% of enrollment. Other groups include 6% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. By comparison, Philadelphia County residents are about 39% Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Vaux HS: A Big Picture School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 22%.
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School's 13.6 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 20.9:1. That ratio is over the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 99%.
allk12 grades Vaux HS: A Big Picture School an F. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public high schools, because each state gives its own test.
After accounting for student poverty, Vaux HS: A Big Picture School is in the bottom 10% of Pennsylvania schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests of 10.7% is 24.5 points below the 35.2% predicted for its lunch-eligibility share.
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School is located in Philadelphia County, where median household income is about $61,953, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and about 17% of people live in poverty. Vaux HS: A Big Picture School is one of 309 public schools in Philadelphia County, which together enroll about 182,005 students.
The closest other public school is Morris Robert School, about 0.2 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Vaux HS: A Big Picture School at 5th of 8.
By NCES locale, the school is City: Large, or inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count dropped from 353 to 284. Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio fell to 20.9:1, from 29.4:1.
Threads on this page can be about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Philadelphia County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,579,706
Census ACS
Median income
$61,953
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
17%
Below federal line
Schools in county
309
182,005 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Philadelphia City SD
- Northeast High SchoolHigh · 3,463 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,472 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 2,329 students
- Northeast Community Propel AcademyElementary · 1,783 students
- Mayfair SchoolElementary · 1,763 students
- Washington George High SchoolHigh · 1,755 students
Other schools in Philadelphia
- Northeast High SchoolHigh · 3,463 students
- Philadelphia Performing Arts CSCombined · 2,572 students
- Lincoln High SchoolHigh · 2,472 students
- Central High SchoolHigh · 2,329 students
- MaST Community CS IICombined · 1,875 students
- First Philadelphia Preparatory CSCombined · 1,831 students
Nearby schools
- Morris Robert School0.2 mi · 215
- Kelley William D School0.4 mi · 211
- Bache-Martin School0.4 mi · 614
- Meade Gen George C School0.5 mi · 314
- Alliance for Progress CS0.6 mi · 618
- Frederick Douglass Mastery CS0.6 mi · 528
Frequently asked questions
About Vaux HS: A Big Picture SchoolHow many students attend Vaux HS: A Big Picture School?
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School enrolls approximately 284 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Vaux HS: A Big Picture School serve?
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Vaux HS: A Big Picture School have?
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School employs 14 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 20.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Vaux HS: A Big Picture School?
Student demographics at Vaux HS: A Big Picture School are roughly 1% White, 6% Hispanic, 88% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Vaux HS: A Big Picture School in?
Vaux HS: A Big Picture School is part of Philadelphia City SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.