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What's the most underrated thing about Westtown-Thornbury El Sch that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
529
Elementary
DISTRICT 490 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST CHESTER AREA SD·NCES 422529001458
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School
750 Westbourne Road, West Chester, PA 19382 · (484) 266-1800 · Chester County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL529 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 74% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B-Beats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.7:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
16%
83 students
DISTRICT 19% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 79 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 93 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 84 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 90 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 84 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 99 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (79) is 20% smaller than its 5th grade class (99).
Student demographics
37%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 47% · 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
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
75.1%
PA avg 51.1% . -1.5pp since 2023
Math
72.1%
PA avg 43.0% . +6.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 75 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 72 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 7 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 75.1% | 72.1% |
| 2023-24 | 76.6% | 65.4% |
% 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
74.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
70.9%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 74% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 71% 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 Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School's state test result (74.5% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School this school | 529 | 15.7% | 74.5% |
| Chestnutwold Elementary School Ardmore | 566 | 15.2% | 77.9% |
| East Goshen Elementary School West Chester | 510 | 18.8% | 77.6% |
| Whitemarsh Elementary School Lafayette Hill | 511 | 12.7% | 82.5% |
| East Bradford Elementary School West Chester | 455 | 17.4% | 75.4% |
| Sarah W Starkweather Elementary School West Chester | 576 | 20.0% | 69.5% |
Matched among Pennsylvania elementary 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 Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Chester County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 74.5% | #209 of 1,396 | #22 of 54 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 72.1% | #242 of 1,511 ▲ 105 | #25 of 56 ▲ 8 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 75.1% | #132 of 1,511 ▲ 50 | #17 of 56 ▲ 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 529 | #453 of 1,638 | #21 of 62 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.3:1 | #1,137 of 1,528 | #52 of 60 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 37.1% | #827 of 1,531 | #51 of 60 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 15.7% | #1,499 of 1,600 | #44 of 61 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +7.5% | #240 of 450 | #12 of 20 |
Ranked against other public elementary 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
529
-14 (-3%) vs 2020
+38% since 1990-91, when it was 384
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
was 15.1:1
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 | 529 | 37 | 14.3:1 | 16% (83) |
| 2023-24 | 550 | 37.5 | 14.7:1 | 15% (83) |
| 2022-23 | 545 | 37.5 | 14.5:1 | 15% (80) |
| 2020-21 | 543 | 36 | 15.1:1 | 14% (76) |
| 2017-18 | 492 | 33.3 | 14.8:1 | 14% (68) |
| 2015-16 | 457 | 32 | 14.3:1 | 14% (65) |
| 2010-11 | 471 | 30 | 15.7:1 | 4% (17) |
| 2000-01 | 412 | 24 | 17.2:1 | 10% (40) |
| 1990-91 | 384 | 27 | 14.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students up 8% (492 to 529); teachers up 11% (33.3 to 37).
About Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School is an elementary school with a street address in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It has an enrollment of 529 students in kindergarten through 5.
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School is part of a district of 17 schools: West Chester Area SD, with 11,987 students.
About 78% of the student body at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School is White. Smaller groups are 7% Hispanic, 7% multiracial, 5% Black, and 2% Asian. Chester County residents are about 77% White, a similar share. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 37%.
The school has 37 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 14.3 students per teacher. The average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania is 13.1:1, so this school has more students per teacher. The school reported 16% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. On average, public schools in Chester County report 38%.
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School holds a B+ allk12 Grade, placing it above 74% of Pennsylvania public elementary schools.
Given its share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School would be expected to post about 70.9%. Its actual average proficiency rate across its state test results is 74.5%.
The school is in Chester County, where median household income comes to about $127,208, about 57% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 4% of residents are in poverty. Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School shares Chester County with 110 other public schools.
Of the public schools around it, Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School is closest to West Chester Bayard Rustin High School, about 0.3 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School ranks 1st of 9 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 74.5% against a local average of 63.9%.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Suburb: Large, meaning it is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Over the 4 years from 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment decreased 3%.
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School has a community page on allk12 for topics such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Chester County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
547,840
Census ACS
Median income
$127,208
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
57%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
111
83,468 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in West Chester Area SD
- West Chester Henderson High SchoolHigh · 1,444 students
- West Chester East High SchoolHigh · 1,216 students
- West Chester Bayard Rustin High SchoolHigh · 1,159 students
- E N Peirce Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,040 students
- J R Fugett Middle SchoolMiddle · 930 students
- Stetson Middle SchoolMiddle · 808 students
Other schools in West Chester
- Pennsylvania Leadership CSCombined · 2,874 students
- West Chester Henderson High SchoolHigh · 1,444 students
- West Chester East High SchoolHigh · 1,216 students
- West Chester Bayard Rustin High SchoolHigh · 1,159 students
- E N Peirce Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,040 students
- 21st Century Cyber CSHigh · 996 students
Nearby schools
- West Chester Bayard Rustin High School0.3 mi · 1,159
- Sarah W Starkweather Elementary School1.8 mi · 576
- Stetson Middle School1.8 mi · 808
- Penn Wood Elementary School2.0 mi · 438
- Glen Acres Elementary School2.4 mi · 451
- West Chester East High School3.2 mi · 1,216
Frequently asked questions
About Westtown-Thornbury Elementary SchoolHow many students attend Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School?
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School enrolls approximately 529 students in grades KG-05.
Is Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many students per teacher at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School?
Approximately 14.3:1 students per teacher at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School.
How diverse is Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School?
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School reports a student body of 78% White, 7% Hispanic, 5% Black, 2% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School in?
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School is part of West Chester Area SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.