William Penn El Sch

Set in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, William Penn El Sch is a low-enrollment elementary campus, one of the schools within Bethlehem Area SD. It works with 242 students across grades K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 45% leaner than the state mean of about 443.

Bethlehem Area SD runs 22 schools in total, collectively educating 12,717 students. William Penn El Sch is one of those campuses.

Demographically, William Penn El Sch shows that the most-represented group is Hispanic (54%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. Beyond that, the school shows 29% White, 15% Black. The wider county runs roughly 16% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the income-and-resources front, The school currently runs with 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.5:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.1:1 average. Roughly 79% of students at William Penn El Sch qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Northampton County's rate of about 61%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), William Penn El Sch tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 43.8% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 34.8%.

In the broader community, the surrounding county (Northampton County) reports that median household income runs about $89,184, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Across Northampton County's 60 public schools (combined enrollment of about 38,316 students), William Penn El Sch is one campus in the mix.

Liberty HS is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.5 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), William Penn El Sch ranks 4th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 36.5%.

Geographically, the school is in an urban area.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count fell 4%: 253 students in 2018 compared to 242 in 2025. Hispanic enrollment moved from 47% to 54% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 13.7:1 in 2018 to 11.5:1 in 2025.

On the community side, posts here usually surface around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.