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What's the most underrated thing about L.F. Palmer Elementary that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
465
Elementary
DISTRICT 467 · STATE 499
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·NEWPORT NEWS CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510264001060
L.F. Palmer Elementary
100 Palmer Lane, Newport News, VA 23602 · (757) 881-5000 · Newport News city
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL465 STUDENTS
C-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 21% of Virginia public elementary schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- CBeats 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
17.9:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.0:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
98%
457 students
DISTRICT 99% · 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 | 61 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 79 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 60 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 92 | 20% |
| Grade 4 | 89 | 19% |
| Grade 5 | 84 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (61) is 27% smaller than its 5th grade class (84).
Student demographics
63%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
Test scores
SOL 2024-25 . % PassingEnglish Language Arts
57.0%
VA avg 74.2% . +5.0pp since 2022
Math
59.0%
VA avg 72.7% . +10.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 57 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 59 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Virginia schools, those numbers are about 74 and 73. Reading and writing scores are up about 5 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 10 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 57.0% | 59.0% |
| 2023-24 | 50.0% | 49.0% |
| 2022-23 | 52.0% | 49.0% |
% Passing, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SOL. 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
55.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.4%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-6.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 55% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 61% typical for Virginia 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 Virginia'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 L.F. Palmer Elementary
L.F. Palmer Elementary's state test result (55.4% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| L.F. Palmer Elementary this school | 465 | 98.3% | 55.4% |
| Elizabeth D. Redd Elementary Richmond | 355 | 99.7% | 45.3% |
| Miles Jones Elementary Richmond | 505 | 99.0% | 37.3% |
| J.L. Francis Elementary Richmond | 526 | 99.2% | 50.6% |
| Oak Grove/Bellemeade Elementary Richmond | 551 | 98.0% | 36.3% |
| Charles M. Johnson Elementary Richmond | 423 | 89.8% | 42.8% |
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 L.F. Palmer Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia | In Newport News city |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 55.4% | #911 of 1,101 | #11 of 24 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 59.0% | #908 of 1,111 ▲ 73 | #14 of 24 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.0% | #914 of 1,111 ▲ 99 | #13 of 24 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 465 | #666 of 1,176 | #13 of 27 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.9:1 | #1,061 of 1,105 | #14 of 27 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 63.4% | #461 of 1,106 | #15 of 27 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.3% | #210 of 1,157 | #26 of 27 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.7% | #620 of 759 | #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
465
+28 (+6%) vs 2020
-28% since 1990-91, when it was 650
Student : Teacher
17.9:1
was 15.1:1
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 | 465 | 26 | 17.9:1 | 98% (457) |
| 2023-24 | 477 | 25 | 19.1:1 | N/A |
| 2022-23 | 433 | 27 | 16.0:1 | 89% (385) |
| 2020-21 | 437 | 29 | 15.1:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 488 | 29 | 16.8:1 | 84% (412) |
| 2015-16 | 556 | 29 | 19.2:1 | 79% (438) |
| 2010-11 | 539 | 33 | 16.3:1 | 70% (377) |
| 2000-01 | 458 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 1990-91 | 650 | 31 | 21.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for L.F. Palmer Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (488 to 465); teachers down 10% (29 to 26).
About L.F. Palmer Elementary
L.F. Palmer Elementary is an elementary school in Newport News, Virginia, and it is part of Newport News City Public Schools. The student body numbers 465 students, from pre-K through 5.
L.F. Palmer Elementary is one school in a 40-school district, Newport News City Public Schools, which enrolls 25,882 students.
L.F. Palmer Elementary has no majority group; Hispanic students are the largest, at 43%. The rest of enrollment is 41% Black, 7% multiracial, and 7% White. Census estimates put the Hispanic share of Newport News city's population at about 11%. The school's diversity index is 63%, meaning two students picked at random have a 63% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
A ratio of 17.9:1 comes from the school's 26 full-time-equivalent teachers. The school has more students per teacher than the 13.8:1 average for elementary schools in Virginia. The lunch program counts 98% of students at L.F. Palmer Elementary as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. For comparison, public schools in Newport News city average 98%.
Measured against Virginia public elementary schools, L.F. Palmer Elementary receives a C-. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, L.F. Palmer Elementary would score about 61.4%. It scores 55.4%, 6.0 points below that figure.
Census Bureau estimates for Newport News city show that the median household income is $69,634, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 11%. There are 48 public schools in Newport News city, enrolling about 25,882 students in all.
Kiln Creek Elementary is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.0 miles away. The five-mile area around L.F. Palmer Elementary holds at least 8 other public schools. Local comparison: L.F. Palmer Elementary ranks 7th of 9 nearby schools, at 55.4% versus a 67.4% average.
Its NCES locale code is City: Mid-size: the school is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school enrolled 465 students in 2024-25, 28 more than the 437 it had in 2020-21. Federal data show the ratio rising from 15.1:1 to 17.9:1.
Questions about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news can be posted here. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Newport News city at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
184,216
Census ACS
Median income
$69,634
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
11%
Below federal line
Schools in county
48
25,882 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Newport News City Public Schools
- Woodside HighHigh · 1,723 students
- Menchville HighHigh · 1,707 students
- Warwick HighHigh · 1,622 students
- Denbigh HighHigh · 1,269 students
- Heritage HighHigh · 1,106 students
- Ethel M. Gildersleeve MiddleMiddle · 1,087 students
Other schools in Newport News
- Woodside HighHigh · 1,723 students
- Menchville HighHigh · 1,707 students
- Warwick HighHigh · 1,622 students
- Denbigh HighHigh · 1,269 students
- Heritage HighHigh · 1,106 students
- Ethel M. Gildersleeve MiddleMiddle · 1,087 students
Nearby schools
- Kiln Creek Elementary1.0 mi · 553
- Richard T. Yates Elementary1.4 mi · 448
- Willis A. Jenkins Elementary1.8 mi · 507
- Joseph H. Saunders Elementary2.4 mi · 660
- Menchville High2.4 mi · 1,707
- Tabb Middle2.4 mi · 968
Frequently asked questions
About L.F. Palmer ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at L.F. Palmer Elementary?
L.F. Palmer Elementary enrolls approximately 465 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does L.F. Palmer Elementary serve?
L.F. Palmer Elementary serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at L.F. Palmer Elementary?
Approximately 17.9:1 students per teacher at L.F. Palmer Elementary.
How diverse is L.F. Palmer Elementary?
L.F. Palmer Elementary reports a student body of 7% White, 43% Hispanic, 41% Black, 1% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees L.F. Palmer Elementary?
L.F. Palmer Elementary is overseen by Newport News City Public Schools in Newport News city.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.