Enrollment
219
Pennsylvania · 2024-25 NCES data
Other / mixed grade configuration · Waterfall, PA
Forbes Road El Sch
Federal NCES profile for Forbes Road El Sch, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 45/100.
2024-25 NCES dataOther / mixed grade configurationNCES 420987006840
👥 S:T ratio 54
🌟 Gifted program 70
🎓 Counselors 56
📋 Attendance 0
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →
The verdict
Forbes Road El Sch earns 45/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 79% of Pennsylvania schools. It is also less racially and ethnically mixed than most Pennsylvania schools.
- 45
- Resource Index · Typical
- 11.5:1
- small classes for Pennsylvania
- 52.6%
- free-lunch eligible
- 219
- students enrolled
Forbes Road El Sch has class sizes smaller than 79% of Pennsylvania schools. Computed live against every Pennsylvania school reporting to NCES.
School address
District: Forbes Road Sd · Pennsylvania
NCES ID 420987006840 Verify on NCES CCD record →
Teachers (FTE)
19.0
Federal CCD staff survey
Students per teacher
11.5:1
vs 13.6:1 Pennsylvania avg
-15% vs state
Free-lunch eligible
52.6%
vs 58.1% Pennsylvania avg
-9% vs state
Student-teacher ratio in context
How Forbes Road El Sch compares with Pennsylvania and U.S. medians
What stands out at Forbes Road El Sch
Small campus with unusually lean teacher staffing
Forbes Road El Sch sits near the smaller end of the Pennsylvania enrollment distribution while also reporting a lower student-teacher ratio than most state schools. That pairing is consistent with a compact, teacher-dense setting, though small scale can limit the number of specialized courses or support roles a campus can sustain. The program and staffing sections below show whether the lean ratio extends beyond classroom teachers into broader student services.
Need and resources require a component-level read
Forbes Road El Sch falls within the wide middle of the Pennsylvania distribution on both free-meal eligibility and the Resource Investment Index. Neither measure supplies an honest headline by itself. The useful distinctions are in the components: classroom staffing, counselor availability, attendance, gifted-program access, and district spending. Those fields can pull in opposite directions even when the overall percentile looks ordinary.
Attendance is the dominant support signal
Forbes Road El Sch's 66.7% chronic-absence rate is more consequential than a generic staffing label: at least one quarter of students missed 10% or more of school days in the 2021-22 collection. That level can affect instruction, counseling demand, and continuity even when other reported resources look ordinary. The dataset records the scale of absence but not its causes, so it should prompt a current-year question rather than a conclusion about school management.
Forbes Road El Sch is a higher-need, small combined-grade school in Waterfall, Pennsylvania, enrolling 219 students.
Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 11.5:1 puts it in the smaller third of Pennsylvania schools by student-teacher ratio.
Its free-meal eligibility rate of 52.6% lands close to the Pennsylvania typical range, neither a high- nor low-need campus by this measure.
Enrollment of 219 puts it in the smaller third of Pennsylvania schools by headcount.
Its Resource Investment Index sits near the middle of the pack among 2,889 scored Pennsylvania schools.
Against 179 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks mid-pack at #127.
Its student body is predominantly White (96% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 8/100).
Counselor coverage is strong, about 219 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.
Chronic absenteeism is elevated: 66.7% of students missed 10% or more of school days (2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection).
The federal civil-rights collection also records 2 expulsions at this campus for 2021-22.
Among Waterfall's public schools, it stands alongside Forbes Road Jshs (158 students): Forbes Road El Sch is larger than that campus by headcount and runs leaner classes (11.5:1 vs 14.4:1).
Its district, Forbes Road Sd, also runs Forbes Road Jshs (158 students).
Sourced from NCES CCD, CRDC, and F-33 (federal records, not a quality verdict). How we source and compute this.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data + CRDC + F-33 · 2024-25
How Forbes Road El Sch compares
Forbes Road El Sch on the metrics families compare, against Pennsylvania and U.S. means.
| Metric | This school | vs Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania avg | U.S. avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students per teacher | 11.5:1 | ▼ 15% | 13.6:1 | 15.7:1 |
| Free-lunch eligible | 52.6% | ▼ 9% | 58.1% | 51.7% |
| Enrollment | 219 | top 89% | - | - |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25
11.5:1
Leaner classes than 79% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
219
Bigger than 22% of US schools by enrollment, mid-sized for the country.
Equity indicators (what these measure)
Economic need
52.6%
free-lunch eligible
- 9% below the Pennsylvania average of 58.1%
Above the 40% Title I schoolwide threshold; federal funds support the whole school, not individual students.
Staffing depth
11.5:1
students per teacher
- 15% below state mean
Top 21% in Pennsylvania - lower ratio than 79% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
66.7%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
At or above 20%, the commonly used threshold for "high" chronic absenteeism, signaling significant barriers to regular attendance.
Funding equity
$22,062
per pupil, district-wide
- above Pennsylvania avg of $18,725
Well above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting substantially higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors1.0 FTE
Per 219 students, the combined health-and-guidance staffing load for this school.
Discipline context
0
in-school suspensions + 0 out-of-school
Suspension rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Combined in-school and out-of-school rate: 0.0 per 100 students. Reported via the Civil Rights Data Collection. Includes 2 expulsions.
Student demographics
White 95.9%
Two or More 2.3%
Hispanic or Latino 1.4%
African American 0.5%
Largest group: White at 95.9% of enrollment.
Student-body diversity index 8.0/100
Simpson diversity index - at 8.0, Forbes Road El Sch is less mixed than the Pennsylvania school average of 37.3.
Programs
Gifted & talented Yes
Funding & spending
District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Forbes Road Sd, which includes Forbes Road El Sch.
$22,062
Per student
+18%
vs Pennsylvania
Avg $18,725
+25%
vs U.S.
Avg $17,658
Revenue mix
Local 35.6%
State 58.3%
Federal 6.1%
Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2022-23 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.
How Forbes Road El Sch Compares to District-Mates
| School | Enrollment | Economic Profile | Student-Teacher Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forbes Road Jshs | Smaller | Lower economic need | Higher S:T ratio |
Comparisons are relative to Forbes Road El Sch's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.
Other Schools in This District
- Enrollment
- 158
- Students per teacher
- 14.4:1
- Resource Index
- 56/100
Similar other schools in Waterfall
1 comparable other schools (grades Mixed) serving the same city.
Similar other schools statewide
Matched by enrollment size and by staffing ratio across all of Pennsylvania, not just this city - a different peer set than the local comparisons above.
Similar enrollment (~219 students)
Next steps
Verify locally before acting on Forbes Road El Sch's federal record.
- Compare Forbes Road El Sch against another school. Compare schools
- Forbes Road Sd's spending and staffing shape this school. District profile
- Confirm current enrollment and boundaries with the school. Choosing guide
Federal record (CCD 2024-25, CRDC 2021-22) - PlainSchools assigns no subjective rating; the composite quality score is a transparent, reproducible index computed from this cited federal data.
Frequently asked questions about Forbes Road El Sch
How many students attend Forbes Road El Sch?
Forbes Road El Sch has 219 students enrolled. It is a public school in Waterfall, PA.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Forbes Road El Sch?
The student-teacher ratio at Forbes Road El Sch is 11.5:1, which is 15% lower than the Pennsylvania average of 13.6:1 and 27% lower than the national average of 15.7:1. Lower ratios generally mean more individual attention per student.
What percentage of students receive free lunch at Forbes Road El Sch?
52.6% of students at Forbes Road El Sch are eligible for free lunch, compared to the Pennsylvania average of 58.1%.
What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Forbes Road El Sch?
The largest demographic group at Forbes Road El Sch is White at 95.9% of enrollment, in Waterfall, PA.
What is the Resource Investment Index for Forbes Road El Sch?
Forbes Road El Sch has a Resource Investment Index of 45/100 (typical reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, gifted-program reporting, counselor availability, chronic absenteeism. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).
What other schools are in Forbes Road Sd?
Besides Forbes Road El Sch, Forbes Road Sd also operates Forbes Road Jshs (158 students). See the Forbes Road Sd district page for the complete list.
Related tools
Every figure on PlainSchools is rendered directly from the source NCES, CRDC and F-33 federal records, no number is typed in by an editor. Each school's figures reflect its most recent NCES/CRDC submission on file. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, the data changelog, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.