1
How has Simonsdale Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
613
Elementary
DISTRICT 464 · STATE 499
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PORTSMOUTH CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510300001257
Simonsdale Elementary
4841 Clifford Street, Portsmouth, VA 23701 · (757) 465-2917 · Portsmouth city
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL613 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 25% 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
15.3:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.0:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
610 students
DISTRICT 101% · 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 | 95 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 87 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 98 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 79 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 70 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 97 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (95) is about the same size as its 6th grade class (97).
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
64.0%
VA avg 74.2% . -5.0pp since 2022
Math
52.0%
VA avg 72.7% . -9.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 64 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 52 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 5 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 9 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 64.0% | 52.0% |
| 2023-24 | 67.0% | 55.0% |
| 2022-23 | 69.0% | 61.0% |
% 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
57.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.0%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-3.8pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 57% 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 Simonsdale Elementary
Simonsdale Elementary's state test result (57.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simonsdale Elementary this school | 613 | 99.5% | 57.3% |
| Ghent K-8 Norfolk | 501 | 99.4% | 84.1% |
| Sutherland Elementary Sutherland | 548 | 94.2% | 55.9% |
| South Hill Elementary South Hill | 767 | 95.6% | 75.6% |
| Churchland Elementary Portsmouth | 721 | 99.6% | 69.6% |
| Riverdale Elementary Courtland | 533 | 91.2% | 79.0% |
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 Simonsdale Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia | In Portsmouth city |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.3% | #886 of 1,101 | #3 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 52.0% | #1,005 of 1,111 ▼ 84 | #8 of 13 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 64.0% | #775 of 1,111 ▼ 86 | #3 of 13 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 613 | #335 of 1,176 | #4 of 13 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.3:1 | #827 of 1,105 | #7 of 13 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 64.3% | #434 of 1,106 | #2 of 13 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.5% | #155 of 1,157 | #12 of 13 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.8% | #421 of 759 | #7 of 10 |
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
613
-12 (-2%) vs 2020
+48% since 1990-91, when it was 415
Student : Teacher
15.3:1
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 | 613 | 40 | 15.3:1 | 100% (610) |
| 2023-24 | 609 | 49 | 12.4:1 | N/A |
| 2022-23 | 612 | 42 | 14.6:1 | N/A |
| 2020-21 | 625 | 48 | 13.0:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 687 | 42 | 16.4:1 | 51% (351) |
| 2015-16 | 702 | 41 | 17.1:1 | 50% (351) |
| 2010-11 | 360 | 20 | 18.0:1 | 25% (89) |
| 2000-01 | 370 | 23 | 16.1:1 | 33% (121) |
| 1990-91 | 415 | 19 | 21.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Simonsdale Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (687 to 613); teachers down 5% (42 to 40).
About Simonsdale Elementary
Simonsdale Elementary is listed by the National Center for Education Statistics as an elementary school in Portsmouth, Virginia. The school enrolls 613 students in kindergarten through 6. That compares with an average of about 499 students for elementary schools in Virginia.
Portsmouth City Public Schools counts 12,905 students in its 22 schools, and Simonsdale Elementary is one of them.
The student body at Simonsdale Elementary has no majority group. Black students lead at 42%. Other groups make up 41% White, 9% multiracial, and 8% Hispanic. Portsmouth city as a whole is about 51% Black, so the school's share is lower. A diversity index of 64% means there is a 64% chance two randomly chosen students at Simonsdale Elementary are from different groups.
There are 40 full-time-equivalent teachers at the school, a ratio of 15.3:1. Across elementary schools in Virginia, the average ratio is 13.8:1. Of all students at Simonsdale Elementary, 100% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is in line with the 101% average for public schools in Portsmouth city.
Among Virginia public elementary schools, Simonsdale Elementary outscored 25%, which works out to a C on the allk12 Grade.
Simonsdale Elementary is 3.8 points below its predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results (57.3% versus 61.0%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Virginia.
In the wider Portsmouth city area, the median household earns about $60,491 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 24% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 14%. Simonsdale Elementary shares Portsmouth city with 23 other public schools.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Olive Branch Preschool Center, is about 0.9 miles. Other public schools within five miles: at least 8. Simonsdale Elementary is 2nd of 7 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.
Simonsdale Elementary is coded as City: Small in federal locale data.
Compared with 2020-21, when it had 625 students, enrollment in 2024-25 was about the same at 613. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 13.0:1; by 2024-25 it was 15.3:1.
On allk12, people connected to Simonsdale Elementary can post about special education services, counseling, and support programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Portsmouth city at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
97,190
Census ACS
Median income
$60,491
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
24%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
24
12,905 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Portsmouth City Public Schools
- Churchland HighHigh · 1,453 students
- Manor HighHigh · 1,149 students
- I.C. Norcom HighHigh · 1,009 students
- Churchland MiddleMiddle · 798 students
- Churchland ElementaryElementary · 721 students
- Churchland Academy ElementaryElementary · 626 students
Other schools in Portsmouth
- Churchland HighHigh · 1,453 students
- Manor HighHigh · 1,149 students
- I.C. Norcom HighHigh · 1,009 students
- Churchland MiddleMiddle · 798 students
- Churchland ElementaryElementary · 721 students
- Churchland Academy ElementaryElementary · 626 students
Nearby schools
- Olive Branch Preschool Center0.9 mi · 171
- Westhaven Elementary1.0 mi · 401
- Manor High1.2 mi · 1,149
- Hodges Manor Elementary1.3 mi · 466
- Waterview Elementary1.5 mi · 576
- Douglass Park Elementary1.6 mi · 510
Frequently asked questions
About Simonsdale ElementaryHow many students attend Simonsdale Elementary?
Simonsdale Elementary enrolls approximately 613 students in grades KG-06.
Is Simonsdale Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Simonsdale Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Simonsdale Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Simonsdale Elementary is approximately 15.3:1 (40 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Simonsdale Elementary?
At Simonsdale Elementary, the student body is approximately 41% White, 8% Hispanic, 42% Black, 9% Two or more.
Who oversees Simonsdale Elementary?
Simonsdale Elementary is overseen by Portsmouth City Public Schools in Portsmouth city.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.