Enrollment
242
Elementary
DISTRICT 341 · STATE 443
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BETHLEHEM AREA SD·NCES 420357006634
William Penn Elementary School
1002 Main St, Bethlehem, PA 18018 · (610) 694-0116 · Northampton County
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL242 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
21 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.0:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
79%
191 students
DISTRICT 64% · STATE 75%
Community
0
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 | 41 | 17% |
| Grade 1 | 38 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 40 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 46 | 19% |
| Grade 4 | 40 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 37 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (41) is 11% larger than its 5th grade class (37).
Student demographics
61%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
29.6%
PA avg 51.1% . -2.8pp since 2023
Math
32.4%
PA avg 43.0% . +5.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 30 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.6% | 32.4% |
| 2023-24 | 32.4% | 26.7% |
% 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
34.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.8%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-8.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 35% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% 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 Penn Elementary School
William Penn Elementary School's state test result (34.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Penn Elementary School this school | 242 | 78.9% | 34.8% |
| Thomas Jefferson Elementary School Bethlehem | 238 | 86.1% | 29.7% |
| Lyndwood Elementary School Hanover Township | 268 | 77.2% | N/A |
| Burrowes Elementary School Lancaster | 308 | 85.4% | 36.0% |
| James Buchanan Elementary School Bethlehem | 253 | 67.2% | 38.9% |
| Avona Elementary School Easton | 205 | 63.9% | 64.3% |
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 William Penn Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Northampton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.8% | #1,123 of 1,396 | #25 of 34 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 32.4% | #1,116 of 1,511 ▲ 60 | #25 of 34 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.6% | #1,207 of 1,511 ▲ 23 | #26 of 34 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 242 | #1,430 of 1,638 | #32 of 35 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.5:1 | #294 of 1,528 | #10 of 35 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 60.5% | #306 of 1,531 | #12 of 35 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 78.9% | #700 of 1,600 | #13 of 35 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.3% | #880 of 1,045 | #23 of 25 |
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
242
+42 (+21%) vs 2020
-13% since 1990-91, when it was 279
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
was 11.1:1
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 | 242 | 21.1 | 11.5:1 | 79% (191) |
| 2023-24 | 239 | 21.1 | 11.3:1 | 80% (191) |
| 2022-23 | 239 | 19.4 | 12.3:1 | 72% (172) |
| 2020-21 | 200 | 18 | 11.1:1 | 70% (139) |
| 2017-18 | 253 | 18.5 | 13.7:1 | 77% (194) |
| 2015-16 | 236 | 17 | 13.9:1 | 77% (181) |
| 2010-11 | 234 | 19 | 12.3:1 | 69% (162) |
| 2000-01 | 278 | 18 | 15.4:1 | 42% (117) |
| 1990-91 | 279 | 15 | 18.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for William Penn Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 4% (253 to 242); teachers up 14% (18.5 to 21.1).
About William Penn Elementary School
William Penn Elementary School is a public small elementary school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Students in kindergarten through 5 attend the school, which enrolls 242 students. The average among elementary schools in Pennsylvania is roughly 443 students; this school is 45% smaller than that.
Bethlehem Area SD counts 22 schools and 12,717 students, including William Penn Elementary School.
At William Penn Elementary School, Hispanic students make up 54% of the student body. The school is also 29% White and 15% Black. That is higher than the 16% Hispanic share among all Northampton County residents. Pick two students at random and there is a 61% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teachers at the school number 21.1 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 11.5:1. This ratio sits 1.6 below the 13.1:1 average for elementary schools in Pennsylvania. Roughly 79% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Northampton County is 61%.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, William Penn Elementary School is 8.9 points below its prediction. Actual: 34.8%. Predicted: 43.8%.
In the county around the school, Northampton County, the median household income is $89,184, roughly 35% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. There are 60 public schools in Northampton County, enrolling about 38,316 students in all.
Liberty High School is the closest public school, about 0.5 miles away in a straight line. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The nearest schools with test data average 36.5%, higher than William Penn Elementary School's 34.8%.
Federal data place William Penn Elementary School in the City: Small locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Federal data show a 21% enrollment gain, from 200 in 2020-21 to 242 in 2024-25.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at William Penn Elementary School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Northampton County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
318,580
Census ACS
Median income
$89,184
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
60
38,316 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bethlehem Area SD
- Liberty High SchoolHigh · 2,541 students
- Freedom High SchoolHigh · 1,792 students
- East Hills Middle SchoolMiddle · 966 students
- Nitschmann Middle SchoolMiddle · 731 students
- Northeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 715 students
- Spring Garden Elementary SchoolElementary · 532 students
Other schools in Bethlehem
- Liberty High SchoolHigh · 2,541 students
- Lehigh Valley Academy Regional CSCombined · 1,878 students
- Freedom High SchoolHigh · 1,792 students
- East Hills Middle SchoolMiddle · 966 students
- Nitschmann Middle SchoolMiddle · 731 students
- Northeast Middle SchoolMiddle · 715 students
Other William Penn Elementary schools
3 other US public schools in 2 states are named William Penn Elementary. William Penn Elementary School is the 2nd largest of the 4.
- William Penn Elementary SchoolMonongahela, PA · 333 students
- William Penn Elementary SchoolBethel Park, PA · 212 students
- William Penn ElementaryBakersfield, CA · 235 students
Nearby schools
- Liberty High School0.5 mi · 2,541
- Thomas Jefferson Elementary School0.8 mi · 238
- Nitschmann Middle School0.9 mi · 731
- Northeast Middle School1.0 mi · 715
- Calypso Elementary School1.1 mi · 222
- Lehigh Valley Dual Language CS1.1 mi · 457
Frequently asked questions
About William Penn Elementary SchoolHow many students attend William Penn Elementary School?
William Penn Elementary School enrolls approximately 242 students in grades KG-05.
What grades does William Penn Elementary School serve?
William Penn Elementary School serves grades KG-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at William Penn Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at William Penn Elementary School is approximately 11.5:1 (21 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at William Penn Elementary School?
At William Penn Elementary School, the student body is approximately 29% White, 54% Hispanic, 15% Black, 2% Asian, 0% Two or more.
Who oversees William Penn Elementary School?
William Penn Elementary School is overseen by Bethlehem Area SD in Northampton County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.