The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Math. The lowest is 34% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on East Derry El Sch
East Derry Elementary School serves kindergarten through third grade in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, a small county seat in the Juniata River Valley. The school enrolls a student population that is predominantly white, with a very substantial share of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. All students in the school qualify for that program.
The school's academic profile is mixed. On the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, about half of third-grade students tested reached proficiency in mathematics, while about a third reached proficiency in English language arts. Those are the only grade bands the state tests for this building, so a fuller picture across early elementary is not available from state data. The school is small for its grade band, serving fewer than three hundred students total across four grades.
Lewistown itself is experiencing a notable shift. The borough, long a manufacturing center, suffered decades of decline after Hurricane Agnes in the nineteen seventies and saw major plant closures through the nineties and two thousands. In recent years that trajectory has reversed. First Quality, an incontinence products manufacturer, is undertaking a substantial facility upgrade that has generated many new jobs. Geisinger Medical Group, the region's largest employer and operator of Lewistown Hospital, recently purchased a prominent downtown building to house a new nursing school. An improved highway to State College was completed in 2020. The borough received a Main Street Matters designation in 2025 and an Enterprise Zone designation, meant to spark revitalization. Downtown has a walkable, human-scaled character with Victorian and Federal buildings lining Market Street. The Amtrak station, one of the oldest in continuous use in the United States, currently runs daily service with plans to double frequency in fall 2026.
Housing values in the zip code are moderate by state and national standards and have appreciated modestly year-over-year. An estimated monthly mortgage payment on a median-valued home runs under eleven hundred dollars.
The Mifflin County School District, which operates the school, has held property taxes flat for years but is now considering an increase to address a budget deficit, signaling a potential shift for homeowners. The district adopted i-Ready Classroom Mathematics as the core curriculum for kindergarten through fifth grade through 2031, a long-term commitment to that instructional model. The district also operates Alpha, a hybrid online program recognized as a model program by the Capitol Area Online Learning Association, offering families a local alternative to cyber charter schools.
Data on the school's chronic absenteeism rate, special education enrollment, and English learner enrollment were not available. The comparison of the school's proficiency against other elementary schools in Mifflin County was not possible given the limited county data. A parent may want to look into these questions directly with the school or district.
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