Summary:
The Malvern School District is home to a single high school, Malvern High School, which serves 559 students in grades 9 through 12 in a community where 73.52% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high-poverty area.
Malvern High School shows a clear upward trend in its state ranking, improving from the 42nd percentile in 2023-2024 to the 45th percentile in 2025-2026, earning a 2 out of 5 star rating. The school boasts a strong graduation rate of 92.2%, above the state average of 90.1%, and a very low dropout rate of just 1.4%. A standout strength is its exceptional student-teacher ratio of 8.6:1, which suggests students have access to significant individualized attention. Per-student spending is $13,677, reflecting a solid investment in resources.
The most striking finding is a dramatic performance gap between grade levels. In the 2025-2026 school year, 9th graders excelled in Biology (79.3% proficient) and Geometry (67.9% proficient), while 10th graders in the same subjects scored only 18.3% and 15.3% respectively—a "9th grade bubble" versus a "10th grade cliff" that warrants investigation into curriculum continuity and support for older students. Overall, the school outperforms the state average in Geometry (28.1% vs. 26.4%) but significantly lags in Biology (34.0% vs. 42.7%) and Algebra (26.2% vs. 36.9%). Year-over-year progress is uneven: English Language Arts proficiency jumped from 24.5% to 33.2% and Reading from 29.1% to 40.0%, yet Algebra remains a critical weakness. Despite high poverty, the school's low class sizes and above-average graduation rate show potential, but test scores indicate this potential is not yet fully realized across all subjects.
Thank you for your feedback!