The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in Science. The lowest is 24% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Pocono Mountain West Jhs
Pocono Mountain West JHS serves grades seven and eight in Pocono Summit, an unincorporated residential community in Monroe County straddling Coolbaugh and Tobyhanna townships. The school enrolls a diverse student body of about 681 students, with a substantial portion of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch and enrollment split fairly evenly between seventh and eighth grades. The student population is roughly one-third Hispanic, one-third white, and one-quarter Black, with smaller numbers of Asian, multiracial, and Native American students.
This is a junior high serving early adolescence, so no graduation or high school pathway data apply. On state assessments administered in 2024-25, math proficiency was below the midpoint statewide. English language arts proficiency was higher but still below state average. Science proficiency measured in 2022-23 was close to the state median. Across the board, these scores are below the midpoint among Monroe County districts on the overall proficiency index. A parent may want to look further into what support services and interventions the school has in place, particularly in mathematics, and how the school plans to strengthen outcomes in the coming years.
Pocono Summit itself is an auto-oriented, lake-community area with little walkable center; Route 196 and Route 940 cross there, with Interstate 380 nearby. The immediate terrain is residential neighborhoods around Stillwater Lake and Pocono Summit Lake, state game lands, and a Boy Scout camp rather than a traditional downtown. The nearest commercial core is Mount Pocono Borough about four miles southeast. Housing in the Pocono Summit zip code is moderately priced and classified as a buyer's market. The dominant regional employer is Tobyhanna Army Depot in nearby Coolbaugh Township, the largest industrial employer in northeastern Pennsylvania. Walmart Distribution Center, FedEx, and other logistics hubs in the township support the area's working families.
The wider Pocono Mountain School District has undergone material changes in its financial and instructional footing. After an unusual eleven-year freeze on property taxes, the district approved its first increase in June 2022 and has continued to raise millage through the 2025-2026 fiscal year, materially shifting the long-term tax outlook for homeowners. On the instructional side, the district rolled out a K-12 STEAM Integration Program that earned a national Magna Silver Award from the National School Boards Association in 2025, meaning integrated science, technology, engineering, arts, and math instruction is embedded across every grade level rather than isolated to electives. For a family considering the area, this signals pedagogical consistency across the district, though the junior high's assessment results show that implementation and student outcomes remain works in progress.
See more original research from School Decision →