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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Williams Valley JSHS?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
433
High
DISTRICT 465 · STATE 738
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WILLIAMS VALLEY SD·NCES 422640003914
Williams Valley JSHS
10330 State Route 209, Tower City, PA 17980 · (717) 647-2167 · Dauphin County
GRADES 07–12HIGH42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL433 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.
- DBeats 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
13.4:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.3:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
346 students
DISTRICT 89% · 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 7 | 77 | 18% |
| Grade 8 | 75 | 17% |
| Grade 9 | 56 | 13% |
| Grade 10 | 71 | 16% |
| Grade 11 | 83 | 19% |
| Grade 12 | 71 | 16% |
Student demographics
23%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 26% · 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
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Williams Valley SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
17.0%
PA avg 51.1% . -25.7pp since 2023
Math
2.8%
PA avg 43.0% . -10.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 17 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 3 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 26 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 11 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 17.0% | 2.8% |
| 2023-24 | 42.7% | 13.7% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
23.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.4%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 24% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 43% 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 Williams Valley JSHS
Williams Valley JSHS's state test result (23.9% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Williams Valley JSHS this school | 433 | 79.9% | 23.9% |
| Sullivan Co JSHS Laporte | 314 | 89.5% | 41.6% |
| Brownsville Area High School Brownsville | 457 | 93.0% | 33.5% |
| Lawrence County Career and Technical Center New Castle | 418 | 94.0% | 31.8% |
| Reynolds JSHS Greenville | 426 | 94.8% | 46.9% |
| Titusville High School Titusville | 565 | 65.5% | 51.1% |
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 Williams Valley JSHS ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Dauphin County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 23.9% | #509 of 576 | #13 of 14 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 2.8% | #604 of 626 ▼ 74 | #13 of 15 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 17.0% | #603 of 626 ▼ 93 | #13 of 15 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 433 | #458 of 713 | #10 of 16 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.4:1 | #265 of 601 | #8 of 14 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 22.7% | #360 of 604 | #12 of 14 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 79.9% | #257 of 619 | #5 of 14 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.0% | #180 of 373 | #5 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
433
-44 (-9%) vs 2020
-38% since 1990-91, when it was 695
Student : Teacher
13.4:1
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 | 433 | 32.2 | 13.4:1 | 80% (346) |
| 2023-24 | 433 | 32.2 | 13.4:1 | 80% (346) |
| 2022-23 | 440 | 36.7 | 12.0:1 | 98% (429) |
| 2020-21 | 477 | 43 | 11.1:1 | 96% (456) |
| 2017-18 | 481 | 43.4 | 11.1:1 | 96% (462) |
| 2015-16 | 413 | 42 | 9.8:1 | 42% (172) |
| 2010-11 | 462 | 37 | 12.5:1 | 35% (164) |
| 2000-01 | 584 | 41 | 14.2:1 | 25% (148) |
| 1990-91 | 695 | 49 | 14.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Williams Valley JSHS.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (481 to 433); teachers down 26% (43.4 to 32.2).
About Williams Valley JSHS
In Tower City, Pennsylvania, Williams Valley JSHS is a small high school. School enrollment was 433 students in 2024-25, in grades 7 through 12. The average among high schools in Pennsylvania is roughly 738 students; this school is 41% smaller than that.
District-wide, Williams Valley SD has 2 schools and 930 students.
The student body at Williams Valley JSHS is 88% White. Other reported shares: 7% Hispanic, 3% multiracial, and 2% Black. Dauphin County's residents are about 63% White, 25 points below the school's share. The school's diversity index is 23%, meaning two students picked at random have a 23% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Federal staffing data show 32.2 full-time-equivalent teachers at Williams Valley JSHS and a ratio of 13.4:1. That is close to the 12.8:1 average for high schools in Pennsylvania. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 80% of enrollment. The rate at public schools in Dauphin County averages 59%, lower than here.
Measured against Pennsylvania public high schools, Williams Valley JSHS 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.
In Pennsylvania, Williams Valley JSHS is one of the bottom 10% of schools on BeatsExpectations, with an average proficiency rate on state tests of 23.9% compared with a predicted 43.4%.
Williams Valley JSHS is located in Dauphin County, where the median household income is $76,242, about 34% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 9%. Besides Williams Valley JSHS, Dauphin County has 74 other public schools.
The closest public school to Williams Valley JSHS is Williams Valley Elementary School, about 0.4 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, 2 other public schools are within five miles. Its average proficiency rate of 23.9% is below the 45.7% average for nearby schools.
Williams Valley JSHS is in rural territory some distance from an urban area, a location NCES labels Rural: Distant.
Enrollment dropped 9% from its 2020-21 level of 477. Its ratio of students to teachers was 11.1:1 in 2020-21, and 13.4:1 in 2024-25.
Conversations here can range across enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Dauphin County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
289,593
Census ACS
Median income
$76,242
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
34%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
75
72,718 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Williams Valley SD
- Williams Valley Elementary SchoolElementary · 497 students
Other schools in Tower City
- Williams Valley Elementary SchoolElementary · 497 students
Nearby schools
- Williams Valley Elementary School0.4 mi · 497
- Hegins-Hubley Elementary School4.3 mi · 307
- Tri-Valley JSHS5.8 mi · 427
- Mahantongo Elementary School7.4 mi · 148
- Upper Dauphin Area Middle School9.1 mi · 302
- Upper Dauphin Area Elementary School9.1 mi · 373
Frequently asked questions
About Williams Valley JSHSHow large is Williams Valley JSHS?
Williams Valley JSHS enrolls approximately 433 students in grades 07-12.
What age range does Williams Valley JSHS serve?
Williams Valley JSHS serves students from grade 07 through grade 12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Williams Valley JSHS?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Williams Valley JSHS is approximately 13.4:1 (32 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Williams Valley JSHS?
At Williams Valley JSHS, the student body is approximately 88% White, 7% Hispanic, 2% Black, 3% Two or more.
Who oversees Williams Valley JSHS?
Williams Valley JSHS is overseen by Williams Valley SD in Dauphin County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.