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If you could change one rule at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation, what would it be?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
531
Middle
DISTRICT 544 · STATE 750
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LYNCHBURG CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510234000955
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation
1200 1208 Polk St, Lynchburg, VA 24504 · (434) 515-5310 · Lynchburg city
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL531 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 25% of Virginia public middle schools
- C-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
46 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.4:1 · STATE 13.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
97%
516 students
DISTRICT 95% · STATE 66%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 176 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 178 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 177 | 33% |
Student demographics
66%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% . -2.0pp since 2022
Math
53.0%
VA avg 72.7% . -4.0pp 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 53 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Virginia schools, those numbers are about 74 and 73. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 4 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 57.0% | 53.0% |
| 2023-24 | 60.0% | 57.0% |
| 2022-23 | 59.0% | 57.0% |
% 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
57.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.6%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 58% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 62% 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 Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation's state test result (57.5% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation this school | 531 | 97.2% | 57.5% |
| Linkhorne Middle Lynchburg | 519 | 94.6% | 50.9% |
| Francis W. Jones Magnet Middle Hampton | 613 | 94.3% | 89.0% |
| Sandusky Middle Lynchburg | 583 | 96.9% | 45.5% |
| Albert Hill Middle Richmond | 505 | 99.8% | 64.3% |
| Bayside Middle Virginia Beach | 628 | 96.3% | 63.4% |
Matched among Virginia middle 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 Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.5% | #272 of 337 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 53.0% | #285 of 342 ▼ 34 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 57.0% | #300 of 342 ▼ 34 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 531 | #247 of 343 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.5:1 | #68 of 327 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 66.0% | #119 of 333 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 97.2% | #57 of 340 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.2% | #44 of 224 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
531
-119 (-18%) vs 2020
+3% since 1990-91, when it was 515
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
was 13.0:1
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 | 531 | 46 | 11.5:1 | 97% (516) |
| 2023-24 | 533 | 52.2 | 10.2:1 | 94% (499) |
| 2022-23 | 531 | 47.3 | 11.2:1 | 95% (505) |
| 2020-21 | 650 | 50 | 13.0:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 657 | 52.7 | 12.5:1 | 91% (600) |
| 2015-16 | 684 | 52 | 13.2:1 | 45% (311) |
| 2010-11 | 644 | 42 | 15.3:1 | 66% (427) |
| 2000-01 | 714 | 53 | 13.5:1 | 47% (339) |
| 1990-91 | 515 | 34 | 15.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation.
Since 2017-18: students down 19% (657 to 531); teachers down 13% (52.7 to 46).
About Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation runs as a low-enrollment middle school in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school enrolls 531 students in grades 6 through 8. On average, middle schools in Virginia enroll around 750, and this school is 29% below that mark.
Lynchburg City Public Schools has 7,657 students spread across 16 schools.
About 47% of students at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation are Black, the largest single group. After that, the student body is 31% White, 12% Hispanic, and 9% multiracial. Among all residents of Lynchburg city, the Black share is about 27%. A diversity index of 66% means there is a 66% chance two randomly chosen students at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation are from different groups.
The school has 46 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 11.5 students per teacher. Statewide, middle schools in Virginia average 13.1:1. Of all students at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation, 97% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Lynchburg city is similar, at 95%.
On the allk12 Grade, Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation lands at C, ahead of 25% of Virginia public middle schools.
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation is 4.2 points below its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results (57.5% versus 61.6%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Virginia.
The school is in Lynchburg city, where median household income comes to about $57,947, 39% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 12% of people live in poverty. Lynchburg city's 24 public schools enroll about 7,657 students and include Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation.
Robert S. Payne Elementary, about 0.3 miles away, is the closest public school. Counting only straight-line distance, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation places 4th of 9 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as City: Small, meaning it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment was 531 in 2024-25. In 2020-21, it was 650. The ratio was 13.0:1 in 2020-21 and 11.5:1 in 2024-25.
This page is set up for the Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation community to discuss homework, tutoring, and testing dates. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Lynchburg city at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
79,497
Census ACS
Median income
$57,947
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
39%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
12%
Below federal line
Schools in county
24
7,657 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Lynchburg City Public Schools
- E.C. Glass HighHigh · 1,220 students
- Heritage HighHigh · 1,113 students
- Sandusky MiddleMiddle · 583 students
- Linkhorne MiddleMiddle · 519 students
- Heritage ElementaryElementary · 448 students
- Sheffield ElementaryElementary · 443 students
Other schools in Lynchburg
- E.C. Glass HighHigh · 1,220 students
- Heritage HighHigh · 1,113 students
- Brookville HighHigh · 1,017 students
- Tomahawk ElementaryElementary · 667 students
- Brookville MiddleMiddle · 648 students
- Leesville Road ElementaryElementary · 646 students
Nearby schools
- Robert S. Payne Elementary0.3 mi · 435
- Dearington Elementary/Innovation1.0 mi · 180
- E.C. Glass High1.1 mi · 1,220
- William M. Bass Elementary1.1 mi · 188
- T.C. Miller Elementary School for Innovation1.3 mi · 168
- Madison Heights Elementary1.8 mi · 449
Frequently asked questions
About Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for InnovationHow large is Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation?
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation enrolls approximately 531 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation serve?
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation serves grades 06-08.
How many teachers does Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation have?
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation employs 46 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.5:1.
What is the student diversity at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation?
Student demographics at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation are roughly 31% White, 12% Hispanic, 47% Black, 1% Asian, 9% Two or more.
Who oversees Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation?
Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle for Innovation is overseen by Lynchburg City Public Schools in Lynchburg city.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.