The top reported proficiency rate is 80% in Math. The lowest is 73% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Hershey Primary El Sch
Hershey Primary El Sch is a small primary school serving second and third grade, part of Derry Township School District in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The school sits in a distinctive planned community built around the Hershey Company chocolate factory a century ago, now a mixed residential and tourism destination anchored by major employers including the chocolate company, Hersheypark entertainment resort, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and the Milton Hershey School. The area is experiencing active growth, with a large new mixed-use development underway along the Route 422 corridor.
The school's math and reading proficiency rates place it well above the median among Dauphin County schools. In the most recent testing cycle, a strong majority of students met or exceeded proficiency in both subjects. Performance in math, the stronger area, reflects broad grade-level competency. English language arts proficiency is solid though a few percentage points lower than math, a common pattern that a parent may want to understand further—whether it reflects the school's reading instruction focus, student needs in literacy, or typical grade-level variance.
The student body is predominantly white, with meaningful representation from Asian, Hispanic, and Black families. About one-quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a modest share from lower-income households while the plurality come from families above that income threshold. The school enrollment is moderate for the grade band, split fairly evenly between second and third grades.
Hershey Primary is a regular public elementary school, part of a district that has kept property taxes flat across multiple recent budgets and maintains the highest credit rating from Standard & Poor's—meaningful financial stability for a school system. However, the district is actively undertaking two major capital projects: construction of a new elementary school building to replace the current aging facility, a multi-year effort with a substantial cost, and completion of a new high school football stadium on campus. These projects reflect long-term investment in facilities but also signal that the current elementary building is aging and likely to be replaced in coming years. The new elementary school construction is in its design phase and will reshape the district's physical plant once complete.
The town's housing market is competitive and rising. Median home prices have climbed year over year, and rents are increasing as well. The area supports both established residential neighborhoods and new development, with walkability concentrated in the historic downtown Chocolate Avenue corridor and more car-dependent patterns elsewhere. School attendance here typically aligns with families drawn to the Hershey area by employment at major institutions or by the community's planned, family-oriented character.
The school serves an early elementary population, so state assessment results are available only for third grade; no graduation or high school transition data apply. Programs, staffing, course access, and discipline data were not available in the school's public profile. A parent exploring this school would want to visit, review the district's strategic plan, and speak directly with the building about curriculum focus, class size, special education services, and how the building approach to early literacy and mathematics instruction aligns with their child's learning style.
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