The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Science. The lowest is 36% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Paul V Fly El Sch
Paul V Fly Elementary School is a small, early-elementary public school serving kindergarten through fourth grade in Norristown, the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The school sits on Potshop Road in a neighborhood built around a historic urban core and residential blocks of Victorian rowhouses and mid-century apartment buildings. Nearly all students in the school qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is diverse: roughly equal shares identify as Hispanic, White, and Black, with smaller numbers of students identifying as multi-racial or Asian.
The school's recent state assessment results show mixed performance across subjects. In math, proficiency among third and fourth graders measured at roughly the midpoint, while in English language arts the same grade bands fell notably below that line. Science proficiency, measured in the prior school year, was notably strong. Overall, the school's proficiency index places it below the midpoint when compared to other districts in Montgomery County, which signals that a parent should expect lower achievement levels than the county average, though science stands as a genuine strength.
The school is embedded in the Norristown Area School District, which has undergone substantial change in recent years. After a long period of underfunding and three consecutive budgets that included property tax increases, the district has stabilized and begun reinvesting. It has hired nearly eighty new staff positions over a recent span, bringing in teachers, paraprofessionals, psychologists, and security personnel. For the coming budget year, the district is funding additional roles in gifted programs, English language development, and special education, though this comes with a property tax increase that affects affordability in the community. The district has also updated curriculum documents across all grade levels and content areas to align with Pennsylvania standards and has invested in new instructional materials district-wide.
Norristown itself is at the beginning of its largest development period in decades. After years with minimal new private investment, multiple housing projects are underway or approved, with roughly hundreds of new units planned within the municipality and more just across the Schuylkill River. The Justice Center project—a major county investment including courthouse renovation and office expansion—is anchoring this activity downtown, alongside apartment developments, a 68-acre reuse of former hospital land, and a trail-junction center along the Schuylkill River. This development wave is reshaping the community's housing market and economic activity.
The school's academic profile suggests it serves a population with fewer pre-K advantages and resource constraints, reflected in the lunch-eligibility data and the county-relative performance gap. Science instruction appears stronger than literacy and numeracy. Families considering Paul V Fly should understand that the school sits in a district executing meaningful staffing and curricular improvements, and that Norristown's housing market is actively in transition. Whether the school or district is the right fit depends on what kind of support structure a student needs and how a family weighs current achievement levels against the district's momentum and investment trajectory.
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