Elementary school (grades K-5) · Snow Shoe, PA

Mountaintop Area El Sch

Federal NCES profile for Mountaintop Area El Sch, including enrollment, faculty, free-lunch eligibility, demographics, and resource indicators - Resource Investment Index 53/100.

2024-25 NCES dataElementary school (grades K-5)NCES 420291001334
0/100100/10053/100
👥 S:T ratio
54
🌟 Gifted program
30
🎓 Counselors
69
📋 Attendance
59
Scored 0–100 from federal NCES and CRDC indicators, resource allocation, not test scores. Full methodology →

The verdict

Mountaintop Area El Sch earns 53/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 78% of Pennsylvania schools. It is also one of the smallest schools in Pennsylvania.

53
Resource Index · Higher
11.6:1
small classes for Pennsylvania
36.2%
free-lunch eligible
104
students enrolled

Mountaintop Area El Sch has class sizes smaller than 78% of Pennsylvania schools. Computed live against every Pennsylvania school reporting to NCES.

Enrollment

104

Pennsylvania · 2024-25 NCES data

Teachers (FTE)

9.0

Federal CCD staff survey

Students per teacher

11.6:1

vs 13.6:1 Pennsylvania avg

-15% vs state

Free-lunch eligible

36.2%

vs 58.1% Pennsylvania avg

-38% vs state

Student-teacher ratio in context

How Mountaintop Area El Sch compares with Pennsylvania and U.S. medians

Smaller classes than state median

Source: NCES Common Core of Data As of 2024-25 federal staff survey Total enrollment ÷ full-time-equivalent classroom teachers

What stands out at Mountaintop Area El Sch

Mountaintop Area El Sch is a small elementary school in Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania, enrolling 104 students.

Class sizes run a bit leaner than typical: 11.6:1 puts it in the smaller third of Pennsylvania schools by student-teacher ratio.

Economic need runs somewhat below the state's typical profile, with 36.2% of students eligible for free meals.

This is a small campus: fewer students than 96% of Pennsylvania schools, with 104 enrolled.

Its Resource Investment Index lands in the upper third of 2,889 scored Pennsylvania schools.

Against 28 statewide peers matched on enrollment and economic need, it ranks mid-pack at #13.

Its student body is predominantly White (96% of enrollment), among the less diverse in the state (diversity index 7/100).

Counselor coverage is strong, about 155 students per counselor, inside the American School Counselor Association's recommended 250:1.

16.3% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 collection, in line with the post-pandemic national range.

Bald Eagle Area Sd also operates Bald Eagle Area Jshs (832 students) and Wingate El Sch (365 students) alongside Mountaintop Area El Sch.

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 Mountaintop Area El Sch compares

Mountaintop Area 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 11.6:1 ▼ 15% 13.6:1 15.7:1
Free-lunch eligible 36.2% ▼ 38% 58.1% 51.7%
Enrollment 104 top 96% - -

Source: NCES Common Core of Data School-level CCD + state/national means from Public School Universe · 2024-25

11.6:1
Leaner classes than 79% of US schools, among the more generously staffed nationally.
104
Bigger than 10% of US schools by enrollment, a small campus.

Equity indicators (what these measure)

Economic need
36.2%
free-lunch eligible - 38% below the Pennsylvania average of 58.1%
Below the 40% Title I threshold; federal aid targets individual qualifying students rather than schoolwide programs.
Staffing depth
11.6:1
students per teacher - 15% below state mean
Top 22% in Pennsylvania - lower ratio than 78% of state schools
Well under the widely cited 15:1 individualized-attention benchmark, among the leaner class loads nationally.
Engagement
16.3%
chronically absent (missed 10%+ of school days)
In the 15-20% range, nearing the "high" absenteeism threshold.
Funding equity
$19,265
per pupil, district-wide - above Pennsylvania avg of $17,970
Somewhat above the U.S. public-school average, reflecting higher local or state investment per enrolled student.
Support staff
Counselors0.7 FTE
Student-support staffing from the Civil Rights Data Collection.
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.

Overview

  • Common Core of Data (June 2026): enrollment, staffing, and the student-teacher ratio above.
  • Civil Rights Data Collection: discipline counts and program access (AP, gifted, special education).
  • F-33 School District Finance Survey: the district-wide per-pupil spending figures below.

Three separate federal collections, each on its own reporting cadence - which is why this school's numbers line up on a consistent basis against every other school and state on this site, rather than mixing figures pulled from different survey years.

Student demographics

White 96.2%
Two or More 3.8%

Largest group: White at 96.2% of enrollment.

Student-body diversity index 7.3/100

Simpson diversity index - at 7.3, Mountaintop Area El Sch is less mixed than the Pennsylvania school average of 37.3.

Programs

Funding & spending

District-wide per-pupil expenditure for Bald Eagle Area Sd, which includes Mountaintop Area El Sch.

$19,265
Per student
+7%
vs Pennsylvania
Avg $17,970
+16%
vs U.S.
Avg $16,593
Revenue mix
Local 48.2%
State 45.5%
Federal 6.4%

Source: NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey District-level finance · FY 2021-22 Per-pupil expenditure reflects the district-wide average. Individual school budgets are not reported at the federal level.

How Mountaintop Area El Sch Compares to District-Mates

School Enrollment Economic Profile Student-Teacher Ratio
Bald Eagle Area Jshs Larger Lower economic need Similar S:T ratio
Wingate El Sch Larger Similar economic need Similar S:T ratio
Port Matilda El Sch Similar size Similar economic need Similar S:T ratio
Howard El Sch Similar size Similar economic need Lower S:T ratio

Comparisons are relative to Mountaintop Area El Sch's own figures; each column derives from NCES Common Core of Data.

Other Schools in This District

Bald Eagle Area Sd · 4 sibling schools

View district profile

Similar elementary 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.

Next steps

Verify locally before acting on Mountaintop Area El Sch's federal record.

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 Mountaintop Area El Sch

How many students attend Mountaintop Area El Sch?

Mountaintop Area El Sch has 104 students enrolled. It is an elementary school in Snow Shoe, PA.

What is the student-teacher ratio at Mountaintop Area El Sch?

The student-teacher ratio at Mountaintop Area El Sch is 11.6:1, which is 15% lower than the Pennsylvania average of 13.6:1 and 26% 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 Mountaintop Area El Sch?

36.2% of students at Mountaintop Area El Sch are eligible for free lunch, compared to the Pennsylvania average of 58.1%.

What is the racial and ethnic makeup of Mountaintop Area El Sch?

The largest demographic group at Mountaintop Area El Sch is White at 96.2% of enrollment, in Snow Shoe, PA.

What is the Resource Investment Index for Mountaintop Area El Sch?

Mountaintop Area El Sch has a Resource Investment Index of 53/100 (higher reported resources relative to schools nationally) based on 4 factors: student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, attendance rates. Not a test-score or academic measure (national median ~41/100, see methodology).

Is Mountaintop Area El Sch a good school?

Mountaintop Area El Sch earns 53/100 on the Resource Investment Index, with class sizes smaller than 78% of Pennsylvania schools. It is also one of the smallest schools in Pennsylvania. This is a resource snapshot, not an academic rating; see the Resource Investment Index question above for what the number does and doesn't measure.

What other schools are in Bald Eagle Area Sd?

Besides Mountaintop Area El Sch, Bald Eagle Area Sd also operates Bald Eagle Area Jshs (832 students), Wingate El Sch (365 students), and Port Matilda El Sch (94 students). See the Bald Eagle Area Sd district page for the complete list.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) CCD + Public School Universe (2024-25), CRDC (2021-22), F-33 District Finance Survey (FY 2021-22) · 2024-25 Data as of the 2024-25 school year. Coverage from U.S. Department of Education NCES Common Core of Data. Varies by entity type; administrative districts and certain charter networks may report only a subset of fields.

All federal data sources used on this page

Full source list and how we compute each figure: methodology page.

View saved

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, or report a data error. Data current as of June 2026.