Original Research by School Decision on Pennsylvania Steam Academy Cs
Pennsylvania STEAM Academy is a tuition-free public charter school in Harrisburg, currently serving kindergarten through fourth grade. It opened in fall 2021 as a new school-choice option for families in the Harrisburg School District and nearby areas within a ten-mile radius, admitting students by lottery when space is available.
The school has grown incrementally, adding one grade level each year since its opening. Enrollment across the current grades is small, sitting at under three hundred students total, with the earliest grades holding the largest cohorts. The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic population and a smaller share of white students and those identifying as multiracial. The school does not report the count of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals, nor does it report the share of students receiving special education services or learning English as an additional language, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about these populations.
A defining operational feature is class structure: each classroom is capped at twenty students and staffed by one teacher paired with one Success Coach aide, a model intended to provide individualized attention in early grades. The curriculum centers on STEM plus arts integration, which shapes the daily learning experience.
In March 2026, the Harrisburg School Board voted to renew Pennsylvania STEAM Academy's charter for a new operating term beginning July 2026, providing five additional years of continuity for families. As part of that renewal, the school was approved to expand into seventh and eighth grade over a coming period, with plans to grow enrollment substantially by the end of the decade. This expansion means families will be able to keep their children enrolled through middle school without needing to transfer to another school after fourth grade.
On attendance, the school reports a chronic absenteeism rate that places it in the bottom quartile among Dauphin County's districts, meaning absenteeism is higher here than in most of the county's other districts. A parent may want to explore this further with the school to understand whether this reflects challenges particular to the student population, transportation barriers, or other factors, and what supports exist to address it.
The school spends per pupil at a rate in the upper half of the county's middle range, higher than some districts and lower than others.
State assessment results were not available for this entity, likely because the school serves only early elementary grades, which Pennsylvania does not test at the state level. Parents looking for academic outcome data may want to request information from the school about how it measures student progress in reading, math, and other core areas.
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