The top reported proficiency rate is 90% in Science. The lowest is 44% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Tobyhanna El Ctr
Tobyhanna Elementary Center serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Pocono Pines, a wooded resort community built around private lake developments in the Pocono Mountains. The school enrolls students from a dispersed, car-dependent residential area with no walkable downtown; the school itself sits on an individual campus near the Clymer Library rather than in a village center.
The student body is economically fragile. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is diverse by race and ethnicity, with roughly equal shares of white and Hispanic students, a substantial Black population, and smaller Asian and multiracial cohorts. The school enrolls roughly equal numbers of students across its grade spans, with slightly larger sixth-grade cohorts and smaller kindergarten classes.
In math on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment for grades three through eight, roughly half of students scored at proficient or above. English language arts results are lower, with proficiency below half the tested population. Science performance, from the most recent available data in 2022-23, was notably strong at around nine in ten students proficient. Overall proficiency across tested subjects ranks this school in the top quartile relative to districts in Monroe County.
The school's performance pattern suggests math and reading instruction warrant scrutiny. A parent might want to ask the school directly how it is addressing English language arts outcomes and whether the gap between science and literacy proficiency reflects curriculum focus, student engagement, or other factors. The school benefits from the Pocono Mountain School District's district-wide K-12 STEAM Integration Program, which won national recognition in 2025. That program embeds science, technology, engineering, arts, and math across every grade level rather than isolating them to standalone courses.
Data on student services—counts of students with individualized education plans or English learners—was not available. Without those numbers, it is unclear whether the school has identified and is addressing gaps in support for students who may need intervention.
The housing market around Pocono Pines has appreciated measurably and is now above the state average, though still below the national benchmark. Property tax increased substantially for the first time in many years in 2022 and has continued to climb, shifting the long-term affordability calculus for families relocating to the area. The region is growing, driven by vacation homes and short-term rentals in the lake communities, and the township recently imposed caps on short-term rental licenses in response to development pressure.
This is a school embedded in a small, dispersed, affluent-leaning resort community with a pocket of economic hardship among students whose families live year-round in the area. If your child qualifies for free lunch, the school serves almost your entire peer group. If you are relocating from outside the region, expect property taxes to be higher than they were a few years ago and climbing. If you value a school with deep, district-wide commitment to integrated STEAM instruction, this district backs that commitment with resources and recognition. If literacy outcomes concern you, a conversation with school leadership about their reading and writing program would be worthwhile.
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