The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Science. The lowest is 34% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Cheltenham El Sch
Cheltenham Elementary School sits in an inner-ring Philadelphia suburb of mixed historic and contemporary residential neighborhoods tied together by SEPTA Regional Rail service. The school serves kindergarten through fourth grade in a district that is actively restructuring itself: in May 2025 the school board voted to close Elkins Park School and move from a four-building K-4 model to K-5 elementary schools paired with a 6-8 middle school, with major building additions at Glenside Elementary and Cedarbrook Middle due to be completed by fall 2027. For families considering a move into the area, this reconfiguration means which building a child will attend at each grade band will change from the current arrangement. The permanent additions are expected to be done before most children now in second grade advance.
Academically, the school shows a split picture across tested subjects. In science, results are above the midpoint among Montgomery County districts. In reading and mathematics, proficiency falls into the bottom quartile within the county. Math proficiency is in the mid-to-upper thirties in percentage terms, and reading is in the low-to-mid thirties; both numbers represent a soft spot a parent may want to examine further directly with the school. State testing data do not cover the full enrollment since kindergarten and first grade are not assessed; the school reports only grades three and four results, and science results are one year old.
The school's student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial share of students identifying as Asian, Hispanic, or multiracial, and a smaller white enrollment. More than half the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a community with modest average household income relative to the suburban county context.
The 19-county region in which Cheltenham sits has been a major Philadelphia exurban commuter route for decades, and Cheltenham itself is a fully built-out inner-ring township of roughly nine square miles with distinct residential neighborhoods scattered across tree-lined streets and streetcar-era housing stock. Five SEPTA Regional Rail stations serve the township (Elkins Park, Glenside, Melrose Park, and Jenkintown-Wyncote straddling the border), and a heavily used bus depot anchors transit connections. The township has pursued modest infill development rather than new construction, with recent projects focused on townhouse and mixed-use adaptive reuse of large historic properties. Housing values in the 19012 zip code that includes Cheltenham sit slightly above the Pennsylvania median and are stable with modest year-over-year appreciation. The tax environment has been stable: the district adopted a modest real estate tax increase for the 2024-25 budget and then passed an Act 1 Index opt-out, capping future increases at or below the state index.
The district's recent steps include adoption of a redesigned elementary report card aligned with reading-language arts and mathematics standards across all four elementary buildings, and compression of Algebra 1 placement criteria from six qualifying measures to three, intended to remove barriers to advanced math study. The district is also participating in a Tax Increment Financing arrangement for redevelopment of the historic Elkins Estate, putting that property on township tax rolls for the first time since before World War II, which may add to the long-term local tax base.
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