James River Elementary

Set in Williamsburg, Virginia, James River Elementary is a mid-sized elementary-level community, one of the schools within Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools. It educates 449 students across grades K through 5.

James River Elementary is one of 16 schools operated by Williamsburg-James City County Public Schools, a district that instructs 11,371 students overall.

In terms of who attends, James River Elementary records that the most-represented group is Hispanic (49%), with the rest of the student body spread across multiple groups. The remainder consists of 24% White, 18% Black, 9% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 7% Hispanic, putting the school's mix considerably more Hispanic than the area baseline.

On the resource side, On paper, James River Elementary has 38 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 11.8:1. The state averages around 13.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 64% of students at James River Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. By comparison, James City County runs at roughly 44%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, James River Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 70.6%, the actual is 60.8%, a residual of -9.8 points.

Zooming out to the county, census data for James City County shows the typical household earns roughly $109,985 per year, about 51% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. James River Elementary is one of 15 public schools in James City County (combined enrollment of about 9,715 students).

Katherine Johnson Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 2.9 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 4 other public schools cluster around James River Elementary. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), James River Elementary ranks 4th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 65.2%.

The campus sits in a low-density setting.

Looking at the recent track record. James River Elementary's enrollment has contracted 10% since 2018, when it stood at 498 (now 449). Over the same period, the Hispanic share increased from 27% to 49%. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 15.3:1 in 2018 to 11.8:1 today.

In the discussion threads here, the feed for James River Elementary typically covers sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.