The top reported proficiency rate is 93% in Science. The lowest is 75% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on South Hanover El Sch
South Hanover Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Hershey, a planned community built around the Hershey Company chocolate works and now anchored by major institutions including a theme park, an academic medical center, and a large boarding school. The school enrolls a small to mid-sized group of students across six grades.
The school's academic profile shows solid performance in math and science, where state assessment results place it in the top quartile among districts in Dauphin County. In math, a majority of students scored at proficiency or above. In science, proficiency ran quite high. English language arts proficiency was lower, with a solid majority but a noticeably smaller share of students meeting the standard compared to math. The school does not report separate results for its individual grade bands, so a parent interested in how third and fourth graders specifically perform would need to ask the school directly. State testing data for science reflect the most recent year available; math and English language arts results are current.
The student body is predominantly white, with smaller populations of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students, and a small number of Black students. About one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a proportion that sits below the county median. The school does not report counts or rates for students receiving special education services or English learner support; parents may want to ask the school directly about these populations and what services are available if that matters to their family.
Hershey itself is in active growth. A major mixed-use development called Hershey West End, designed around walkable neighborhoods and retail, is ramping up construction along a corridor near the Penn State Health medical center. Housing costs have risen; the median home sale price in the Hershey zip code is solidly above the state average, and rental costs are climbing year over year. The community remains unincorporated within Derry Township, so all municipal services run through township government. Recreation, civic life, and culture are anchored by both historic Hershey-built institutions—the chocolate factory buildings now converted to offices, Hershey Gardens, the renovated community center—and the newer entertainment and hospitality campus north of downtown.
The school sits within Lower Dauphin School District, a mid-sized regional district. The district recently authorized bonds for capital improvements and is in the midst of a stadium renovation project at the middle school. For the school year referenced in available budget documents, the district held its property tax millage rate flat while drawing from fund balance reserves; families moving in should be aware that this fiscal posture may not continue indefinitely, and future budgets will reflect ongoing debt service from the bond authorization.
South Hanover feeds into Lower Dauphin Middle School, which is where the stadium project is underway. A parent considering this school should ask about the scope and timeline of that construction and any temporary disruptions it may bring to sixth-grade programming when their child transitions.
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