William Mason Cooper Elementary

William Mason Cooper Elementary operates as a modestly sized elementary school in Hampton, Virginia, run under Hampton City Public Schools. Current enrollment sits at 386 students spanning grades pre-K through 5. Enrollment runs roughly 23% smaller than the state mean of about 499.

Within Hampton City Public Schools, which oversees 30 schools and 19,472 students, William Mason Cooper Elementary is one campus in the system.

Looking at the student body, William Mason Cooper Elementary logs that the largest single group is Black, at 71% of enrollment. The remainder consists of 12% multiracial, 11% White, 4% Hispanic. By comparison, Hampton city as a whole is about 49% Black, so the school skews visibly more Black than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.3:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 95% of students at William Mason Cooper Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, William Mason Cooper Elementary ranks in the top 10% of Virginia public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 62.1%; William Mason Cooper Elementary posts 77.8%, +15.6 points above that line.

In the broader community, census data for Hampton city shows the typical household earns roughly $69,621 per year, about 29% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 9%. In all, Hampton city runs 36 public schools (combined enrollment of about 19,472 students), of which William Mason Cooper Elementary is one.

Nearest neighbor: Thomas Eaton Middle, around 0.2 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts William Mason Cooper Elementary at 2nd of 9; the average score across the group is 68.3%.

Geographically, the school is in a suburban area.

Trend over the last 7 years. William Mason Cooper Elementary's enrollment has shrank 4% since 2018, when it stood at 401 (now 386). Class-load math has tightened: from 19.1:1 in 2018 to 14.3:1 in 2025.

In the discussion threads here, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.