The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Science. The lowest is 46% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Coebourn El Sch
Coebourn Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Brookhaven, a small residential borough in southern Delaware County. The school sits on its own campus on Coebourn Boulevard rather than within the central commercial corridor, and feeds into Northley Middle School in neighboring Aston.
The enrollment is small, hovering around the size typical for a single-building elementary serving a modest-area community. Just over two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller representation across Black, multiracial, Asian, and Hispanic backgrounds; specific counts of students with IEPs or English learner status were not available in the data. Brookhaven itself is an established, built-out residential suburb with a stable housing market; homes are modestly valued and rented out at rates consistent with national affordability benchmarks, and the community shows little population growth pressure.
In state testing, Coebourn's performance is mixed. In English language arts and math, the school's proficiency rate hovers just under one-half of students tested in grades three through five. Science proficiency, measured most recently in 2022-23, was substantially stronger, with a clear majority of tested students at proficient or advanced levels. The school's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the twenty-one districts in Delaware County, though the reading and math numbers suggest that foundational skills are an area where the school has work to do.
Coebourn is a regular public school with no special magnet or charter status. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, the Penn-Delco School District implemented the Leader in Me curriculum across all elementary schools, including Coebourn, as its main vehicle for social and emotional learning. This program, built on the "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Students," is now embedded into students' weekly schedules through guidance time and regular class instruction. For families, that represents a district-wide pedagogical shift in how character and leadership skills are taught.
Property taxes in the district have risen recently. The 2024-25 budget included a millage increase to fund additional counselor and psychological support staff, as well as rising special education costs and charter-school tuition obligations. A parent considering Coebourn should factor in the stable but growing tax environment across the district.
A parent weighing Coebourn may want to look into the school's approach to math and reading instruction more directly with staff, given the proficiency levels in those subjects, and understand how the Leader in Me framework is being implemented in regular classrooms beyond the dedicated guidance block. The school's science results show it can reach strong performance; understanding how to bring that momentum into literacy and numeracy would be a fair question to ask.
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