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If you had an hour of school board time for Thomas C. McSwain Elementary, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
449
Elementary
DISTRICT 336 · STATE 499
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·STAUNTON CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS·NCES 510369001608
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary
1101 N Coalter St, Staunton, VA 24401 · (540) 332-3936 · Staunton city
GRADES KG–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL449 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 98% of Virginia public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.5:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.3:1 · STATE 13.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
381 students
DISTRICT 85% · 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 | 71 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 72 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 68 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 79 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 83 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 76 | 17% |
This year's kindergarten class (71) is 7% smaller than its 5th grade class (76).
Student demographics
48%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · 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 Staunton City Public Schools. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SOL 2024-25 . % PassingEnglish Language Arts
84.0%
VA avg 74.2% . -4.0pp since 2022
Math
90.0%
VA avg 72.7% . +4.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SOL, Virginia's statewide test, about 84 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 90 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 4 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 4 points.
SOL results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 84.0% | 90.0% |
| 2023-24 | 84.0% | 89.0% |
| 2022-23 | 88.0% | 86.0% |
% Passing, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SOL. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of VA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
88.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
65.0%
based on VA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+23.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 88% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 65% typical for Virginia schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 23 points, placing it in Virginia's top 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 Thomas C. McSwain Elementary
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary's state test result (88.2% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas C. McSwain Elementary this school | 449 | 84.9% | 88.2% |
| Jeter-Watson Elementary Covington | 491 | 83.3% | 58.5% |
| Stony Mill Elementary Danville | 440 | 83.6% | 79.9% |
| Belle Heth Elementary Radford | 473 | 79.9% | 74.3% |
| W.E. Cundiff Elementary Vinton | 486 | 81.3% | 78.6% |
| Herman L. Horn Elementary Vinton | 399 | 82.5% | 80.4% |
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 Thomas C. McSwain Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 88.2% | #89 of 1,101 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 90.0% | #124 of 1,111 ▼ 14 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 84.0% | #222 of 1,111 ▼ 16 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 449 | #707 of 1,176 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.5:1 | #669 of 1,105 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 47.6% | #802 of 1,106 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.9% | #434 of 1,157 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +5.2% | #200 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
449
+48 (+12%) vs 2020
-9% since 1990-91, when it was 491
Student : Teacher
14.5:1
was 16.0:1
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 | 449 | 31 | 14.5:1 | 85% (381) |
| 2023-24 | 429 | 31 | 13.8:1 | 81% (349) |
| 2022-23 | 415 | 30 | 13.8:1 | N/A |
| 2020-21 | 401 | 25 | 16.0:1 | N/A |
| 2017-18 | 427 | 29 | 14.7:1 | 42% (180) |
| 2015-16 | 444 | 28 | 15.9:1 | 49% (219) |
| 2010-11 | 405 | 16 | 25.3:1 | 46% (186) |
| 2000-01 | 341 | 28 | 12.2:1 | 39% (132) |
| 1990-91 | 491 | 31 | 15.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Thomas C. McSwain Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 5% (427 to 449); teachers up 7% (29 to 31).
About Thomas C. McSwain Elementary
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary is a public elementary school in Staunton, Virginia. Classes run from kindergarten through 5, and the school has 449 students.
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary is one school in a 6-school district, Staunton City Public Schools, which enrolls 2,692 students.
Roughly 70% of students at Thomas C. McSwain Elementary are White. The rest of enrollment is 11% Black, 10% multiracial, and 8% Hispanic. Among all residents of Staunton city, the White share is about 79%. Thomas C. McSwain Elementary's diversity index is 48%, against a US figure of 70%.
Its teaching staff equals 31 full-time positions, a ratio of 14.5:1. That matches the 13.8:1 average for elementary schools in Virginia fairly closely. Around 85% of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. That tracks the 83% average for public schools in Staunton city.
Measured against Virginia public elementary schools, Thomas C. McSwain Elementary receives an A+. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
After accounting for student poverty, Thomas C. McSwain Elementary is in the top 10% of Virginia schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests of 88.2% is 23.2 points above the 65.0% predicted for its lunch-eligibility share.
Recent Census Bureau figures for Staunton city show that the median household income is $65,581, about 38% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 8%. Besides Thomas C. McSwain Elementary, Staunton city has 10 other public schools.
Staunton High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles away. Within five miles of Thomas C. McSwain Elementary, there are at least 8 other public schools. Of 5 schools in the immediate area with test results, Thomas C. McSwain Elementary ranks 1st on average proficiency.
For locale, NCES codes Thomas C. McSwain Elementary as City: Small.
Enrollment climbed 12% from its 2020-21 level of 401. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 16.0:1 in 2020-21 to 14.5:1 in 2024-25.
Posts about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes are welcome on this page. Questions from prospective families are welcome too.
Staunton city at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
25,948
Census ACS
Median income
$65,581
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
11
2,780 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Staunton City Public Schools
- Staunton HighHigh · 766 students
- Shelburne MiddleMiddle · 583 students
- Bessie Weller ElementaryElementary · 373 students
- Arthur R. Ware ElementaryElementary · 372 students
- Staunton City School PreSchool ProgramsElementary · 149 students
Other schools in Staunton
- Staunton HighHigh · 766 students
- Riverheads ElementaryElementary · 714 students
- Beverley Manor MiddleMiddle · 612 students
- Shelburne MiddleMiddle · 583 students
- Riverheads HighHigh · 467 students
- Bessie Weller ElementaryElementary · 373 students
Nearby schools
- Staunton High0.3 mi · 766
- Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind1.0 mi · 65
- Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind Elementary1.0 mi · 7
- Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind Middle1.0 mi · 16
- Staunton City School PreSchool Programs1.8 mi · 149
- Bessie Weller Elementary1.9 mi · 373
Frequently asked questions
About Thomas C. McSwain ElementaryHow many students attend Thomas C. McSwain Elementary?
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary enrolls approximately 449 students in grades KG-05.
Is Thomas C. McSwain Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary is an elementary school covering grades KG-05.
How many teachers does Thomas C. McSwain Elementary have?
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary employs 31 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.5:1.
What is the student diversity at Thomas C. McSwain Elementary?
Student demographics at Thomas C. McSwain Elementary are roughly 70% White, 8% Hispanic, 11% Black, 1% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Thomas C. McSwain Elementary?
Thomas C. McSwain Elementary is overseen by Staunton City Public Schools in Staunton city.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.