1
What tradition at William Allen HS should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
3,074
High
DISTRICT 1,801 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·ALLENTOWN CITY SD·NCES 420228002794
William Allen High School
106 N 17th St, Allentown, PA 18104 · (484) 765-5001 · Lehigh County
GRADES 09–12HIGH12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL3,074 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 10% of Pennsylvania public high schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-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 high schools
Student : Teacher
20.1:1
153 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.6:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
3,047 students
DISTRICT 102% · 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 | 968 | 31% |
| Grade 10 | 814 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 655 | 21% |
| Grade 12 | 637 | 21% |
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 43% · 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
32.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -7.5pp since 2023
Math
11.1%
PA avg 43.0% . +0.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 33 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 11 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 8 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 32.5% | 11.1% |
| 2023-24 | 40.0% | 10.2% |
% 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
21.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
35.1%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 21% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 35% 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 William Allen High School
William Allen High School's state test result (21.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Allen High School this school | 3,074 | 99.1% | 21.3% |
| Louis E Dieruff High School Allentown | 1,914 | 98.5% | 24.8% |
| Reading SHS Reading | 4,879 | 98.3% | 20.7% |
| Hazleton Area High School Hazle Township | 4,071 | 95.4% | 35.1% |
| McCaskey Campus Lancaster | 2,600 | 89.0% | 35.1% |
| Wilkes-Barre Area High School Plains | 2,569 | 96.1% | 32.5% |
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 William Allen High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Lehigh County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 21.3% | #524 of 576 | #9 of 11 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 11.1% | #553 of 626 ▲ 3 | #9 of 11 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 32.5% | #547 of 626 ▼ 15 | #9 of 11 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 3,074 | #8 of 713 | #2 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 20.1:1 | #571 of 601 | #11 of 11 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 40.9% | #219 of 604 | #7 of 11 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.1% | #139 of 619 | #2 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +11.9% | #76 of 221 | #2 of 7 |
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
3,074
+424 (+16%) vs 2020
+36% since 1990-91, when it was 2,262
Student : Teacher
20.1:1
was 18.3:1
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 | 3,074 | 153 | 20.1:1 | 99% (3,047) |
| 2023-24 | 2,984 | 154.1 | 19.4:1 | N/A |
| 2022-23 | 2,852 | 141.5 | 20.2:1 | 87% (2,480) |
| 2020-21 | 2,650 | 145 | 18.3:1 | 86% (2,290) |
| 2017-18 | 2,747 | 148 | 18.6:1 | 78% (2,141) |
| 2015-16 | 2,611 | 132 | 19.8:1 | 70% (1,816) |
| 2010-11 | 2,923 | 200 | 14.6:1 | 81% (2,358) |
| 2000-01 | 2,643 | 121 | 21.8:1 | 68% (1,807) |
| 1990-91 | 2,262 | 150 | 15.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for William Allen High School.
Since 2017-18: students up 12% (2,747 to 3,074); teachers up 3% (148 to 153).
About William Allen High School
William Allen High School is a large high school in Allentown, Pennsylvania, administered by Allentown City SD. The school had 3,074 students in grades 9 through 12 in 2024-25. An average school in this group (high schools in Pennsylvania) has about 738 students.
The district, Allentown City SD, has 16,674 students enrolled across 23 schools.
Roughly 75% of students at William Allen High School are Hispanic. Other groups include 13% Black, 5% White, and 5% multiracial. By comparison, Lehigh County residents are about 28% Hispanic. William Allen High School's diversity index is 41%, against a US figure of 70%.
Dividing enrollment by its 153 full-time-equivalent teachers gives a ratio of about 20.1:1. That is higher than the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania. Eligible students account for 99% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. Public schools in Lehigh County average 70%.
Measured against Pennsylvania public high schools, William Allen High School receives a D. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, William Allen High School would score about 35.1%. It scores 21.3%, 13.9 points below that figure.
Lehigh County has about 378,792 residents, and the median household income is $80,079, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 34% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 8%. In all, Lehigh County has 83 public schools and roughly 56,984 students.
The next-closest public school is Francis D Raub Middle School, about 0.3 miles away. William Allen High School is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. William Allen High School's average proficiency of 21.3% compares with 22.0% for its nearest scored neighbors.
William Allen High School is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000, a location NCES labels City: Mid-size.
The school enrolled 3,074 students in 2024-25, 424 more than the 2,650 it had in 2020-21. There were more students per teacher in 2024-25 (20.1:1) than in 2020-21 (18.3:1).
The William Allen High School community page is open for posts about sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Lehigh County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
378,792
Census ACS
Median income
$80,079
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
56,984 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Allentown City SD
- Louis E Dieruff High SchoolHigh · 1,914 students
- South Mountain Middle SchoolMiddle · 972 students
- Francis D Raub Middle SchoolMiddle · 876 students
- Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays Elementary SchoolElementary · 807 students
- Trexler Middle SchoolMiddle · 771 students
- Harrison-Morton Middle SchoolMiddle · 704 students
Other schools in Allentown
- Parkland High SchoolHigh · 3,279 students
- Louis E Dieruff High SchoolHigh · 1,914 students
- Executive Education Academy CSCombined · 1,497 students
- Springhouse Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,329 students
- Lincoln Leadership Academy CSCombined · 973 students
- South Mountain Middle SchoolMiddle · 972 students
Nearby schools
- Francis D Raub Middle School0.3 mi · 876
- Union Terrace Elementary School0.4 mi · 674
- Ruby Bridge Childhood Center0.5 mi · 125
- Jackson Early Childhood Center0.5 mi · 212
- Luis A. Ramos Elementary School0.5 mi · 695
- Brigadier General Anna Mae Hays Elementary School0.6 mi · 807
Frequently asked questions
About William Allen High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at William Allen High School?
William Allen High School enrolls approximately 3,074 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does William Allen High School serve?
William Allen High School serves grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at William Allen High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at William Allen High School is approximately 20.1:1 (153 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at William Allen High School?
At William Allen High School, the student body is approximately 5% White, 75% Hispanic, 13% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is William Allen High School in?
William Allen High School is part of Allentown City SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.