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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Hugh Mercer Elementary?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
859
Elementary
DISTRICT 607 · STATE 499
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·FREDERICKSBURG CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510151000660
Hugh Mercer Elementary
2100 Cowan Blvd, Fredericksburg, VA 22401 · (540) 372-1115 · Fredericksburg city
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL859 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 5% of Virginia public elementary 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 Virginia public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
54 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.5:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
90%
776 students
DISTRICT 95% · STATE 66%
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 | 133 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 152 | 18% |
| Grade 2 | 164 | 19% |
| Grade 3 | 129 | 15% |
| Grade 4 | 131 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 150 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (133) is 11% smaller than its 5th grade class (150).
Student demographics
77%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 77% · STATE 71% · 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
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Fredericksburg City Public Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SOL 2024-25 . % PassingEnglish Language Arts
48.0%
VA avg 74.2% . +0.0pp since 2022
Math
44.0%
VA avg 72.7% . -8.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 48 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Virginia schools, those numbers are about 74 and 73. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2022, while math scores are down about 8 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 48.0% | 44.0% |
| 2023-24 | 46.0% | 44.0% |
| 2022-23 | 48.0% | 52.0% |
% Passing, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SOL. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of VA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
44.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
63.5%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-19.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 64% typical for Virginia 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 Hugh Mercer Elementary
Hugh Mercer Elementary's state test result (44.1% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hugh Mercer Elementary this school | 859 | 90.3% | 44.1% |
| Lafayette Elementary Fredericksburg | 812 | 90.8% | 54.0% |
| Dumbarton Elementary Richmond | 684 | 90.2% | 45.8% |
| Skipwith Elementary Richmond | 603 | 88.1% | 56.0% |
| Patrick Henry K-8 School Alexandria | 1,075 | 96.8% | 63.0% |
| Samuel W. Tucker Elementary Alexandria | 735 | 77.0% | 63.8% |
Matched among Virginia 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 Hugh Mercer Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 44.1% | #1,035 of 1,101 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.0% | #1,065 of 1,111 ▼ 36 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 48.0% | #1,028 of 1,111 ▲ 18 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 859 | #47 of 1,176 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.8:1 | #899 of 1,105 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 76.9% | #17 of 1,106 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 90.3% | #322 of 1,157 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +0.6% | #312 of 324 |
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
859
-7 (-1%) vs 2020
+12% since 1990-91, when it was 769
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
was 14.9:1
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 | 859 | 54.3 | 15.8:1 | 90% (776) |
| 2023-24 | 849 | 54 | 15.7:1 | 85% (720) |
| 2022-23 | 959 | 56 | 17.1:1 | 84% (805) |
| 2020-21 | 866 | 58 | 14.9:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 854 | 58 | 14.7:1 | 81% (692) |
| 2015-16 | 867 | 60 | 14.4:1 | 68% (588) |
| 2010-11 | 814 | 44 | 18.5:1 | 61% (498) |
| 2000-01 | 712 | 55 | 12.9:1 | 55% (390) |
| 1990-91 | 769 | 50 | 15.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Hugh Mercer Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (854 to 859); teachers down 6% (58 to 54.3).
About Hugh Mercer Elementary
Students in Fredericksburg, Virginia, attend Hugh Mercer Elementary, a large elementary school. It serves 859 students in kindergarten through 5. For comparison, elementary schools in Virginia average about 499 students.
Fredericksburg City Public Schools oversees Hugh Mercer Elementary and 4 other schools, with 3,629 students in total.
By race and ethnicity, the largest group at Hugh Mercer Elementary is Black (30%). The remaining students are 26% Hispanic, 21% White, 15% Asian, and 7% multiracial. Census figures show Fredericksburg city is about 20% Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Hugh Mercer Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 77%.
Hugh Mercer Elementary's 54.3 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 15.8:1. That ratio is over the 13.8:1 average for elementary schools in Virginia. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 90%. That is close to the 92% average for public schools in Fredericksburg city.
The allk12 Grade for Hugh Mercer Elementary is D. Compared with Virginia public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 5% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
A school in Virginia with Hugh Mercer Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 63.5%. Hugh Mercer Elementary scores 44.1%.
In Fredericksburg city (population about 28,873), median household income is about $86,071, 46% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 9% of residents live below the federal poverty line. A total of 6 public schools operate in Fredericksburg city, serving about 3,629 students.
The closest public school, James Monroe High, is about 0.9 miles from Hugh Mercer Elementary. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Hugh Mercer Elementary places 7th of 7 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
NCES assigns Hugh Mercer Elementary the locale Suburb: Mid-size, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment held near 859, starting from 866.
The Hugh Mercer Elementary community page is open for posts about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Fredericksburg city at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
28,873
Census ACS
Median income
$86,071
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
9%
Below federal line
Schools in county
6
3,629 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Fredericksburg City Public Schools
- James Monroe HighHigh · 1,013 students
- Lafayette ElementaryElementary · 812 students
- Walker-Grant MiddleMiddle · 796 students
- Walker-Grant Early Childhood CenterElementary · 149 students
- Fredericksburg New ElementaryElementary
Other schools in Fredericksburg
- Stafford Senior HighHigh · 2,198 students
- Riverbend HighHigh · 1,913 students
- Massaponax HighHigh · 1,692 students
- Courtland HighHigh · 1,497 students
- Chancellor HighHigh · 1,321 students
- James Monroe HighHigh · 1,013 students
Nearby schools
- James Monroe High0.9 mi · 1,013
- Walker-Grant Middle1.5 mi · 796
- Walker-Grant Early Childhood Center1.6 mi · 149
- Lafayette Elementary1.9 mi · 812
- Rising Star Early Childhood Education Center at Melchers2.2 mi · 280
- Salem Elementary2.8 mi · 573
Frequently asked questions
About Hugh Mercer ElementaryHow many students attend Hugh Mercer Elementary?
Hugh Mercer Elementary enrolls approximately 859 students in grades KG-05.
What age range does Hugh Mercer Elementary serve?
Hugh Mercer Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Hugh Mercer Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Hugh Mercer Elementary is approximately 15.8:1 (54 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Hugh Mercer Elementary?
Hugh Mercer Elementary reports a student body of 21% White, 26% Hispanic, 30% Black, 15% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Hugh Mercer Elementary public or private?
Hugh Mercer Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Fredericksburg City Public Schools.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.