Willis A. Jenkins Elementary

Set in Newport News, Virginia, Willis A. Jenkins Elementary is a reasonably sized elementary-level community, operated by Newport News City Public Schools. It caters to 507 students across grades pre-K through 5.

Within Newport News City Public Schools, which oversees 40 schools and 25,882 students, Willis A. Jenkins Elementary is one campus in the system.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Willis A. Jenkins Elementary lists that 54% of students identify as Black, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school logs 19% Hispanic, 17% White, 7% multiracial, 2% Asian. The wider county runs roughly 41% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school currently runs with 27 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 18.8:1. The state averages around 13.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Roughly 100% of students at Willis A. Jenkins Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy.

After controlling for student poverty, Willis A. Jenkins Elementary performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 60.9%, the actual is 53.5%, a residual of -7.4 points.

Across the wider county, community-level numbers for Newport News city indicate median household income runs about $69,634, about 31% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 11% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Newport News city's 48 public schools (combined enrollment of about 25,882 students), Willis A. Jenkins Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Menchville High is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.9 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Willis A. Jenkins Elementary ranks 8th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 58.8%.

The school occupies a high-density site.

Over the past 7-year window. Willis A. Jenkins Elementary's enrollment has climbed 22% since 2018, when it stood at 414 (now 507). The Black share of enrollment ticked down from 61% to 54% over that span. Class-load math has grew: from 15.9:1 in 2018 to 18.8:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.