The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in English language arts. The lowest is 46% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Elkins Park Sch
Elkins Park School serves grades five and six in the Cheltenham School District, a suburban community about seven miles from Center City Philadelphia that straddles Cheltenham and Abington Townships. It is a regular public school with current enrollment around six hundred students, split roughly evenly between the two grade levels. About half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is predominantly Black, with substantial Asian, White, and multiracial representation.
Academic performance on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment shows proficiency rates in the mid-range for the county. Math proficiency sits just under half of tested students, and English language arts runs similarly, positioning the school in the bottom quartile of proficiency across Montgomery County's districts. State test data was available only for grades three through eight aggregate, so the school's specific performance by grade level and subject cannot be isolated here. Assessment scores do not show year-over-year trend data, so the direction of movement is not clear from the records provided.
The school is about to close. In May 2025, the Cheltenham School District board voted unanimously to shut Elkins Park School at the end of the 2024-25 academic year and reconfigure the entire district from its current kindergarten-through-fourth, fifth-sixth, and seventh-eighth model into kindergarten-through-fifth elementary schools and a sixth-through-eighth middle school. Students currently in fifth and sixth grade at Elkins Park will transition to different buildings: fifth graders will move to one of the district's K-5 elementaries, and sixth graders will move to Cedarbrook Middle School. Rebuilding Elkins Park School would have cost a substantial sum; the reconfiguration and renovations of remaining schools will cost less, with construction at Cedarbrook and Glenside Elementary projected to finish by fall 2027. This is a structural change that affects where every child in the district attends school at every grade band.
Elkins Park itself is a predominantly residential, leafy, historic unincorporated community with tree-lined streets, front porches, Gilded Age estates, and diverse architectural styles. It anchors part of the Old York Road Corridor, which has a sizable Jewish community. The Elkins Park SEPTA regional rail station is a civic anchor, with independent bookstores, food co-ops, cafes, and bakeries in a small commercial cluster nearby. Transit connections to Center City Philadelphia are available; cars remain the primary way to move around. Housing in the area is relatively mature stock, mostly built decades ago, with tight supply and slow population growth. The median home value is in the mid-range for the Philadelphia suburbs, and rents have risen noticeably in recent months. Employment is anchored by healthcare institutions, particularly Jefferson Einstein at Elkins Park (the 60-bed acute care hospital formerly known as Einstein Medical Center Elkins Park) and associated rehabilitation services.
The district as a whole has made recent instructional changes relevant to families. The elementary report card was redesigned and aligned across all buildings around reading-language arts and mathematics standards to give consistent feedback. Algebra 1 placement criteria were compressed from six to three, intended to remove barriers to advanced math study for middle schoolers. The district also became part of a Tax Increment Financing district for the 42-acre Elkins Estate redevelopment, bringing that historic property onto the township tax rolls for the first time since before World War II and affecting future local tax base. The district has adopted modest, index-bounded property-tax increases.
Because Elkins Park School will cease operation after this year, any prospective enrollment is not realistic. Families with students currently enrolled or considering the district should understand that the closure and grade reconfiguration will reset school assignments for all students entering the district in the coming years.
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