The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in Science. The lowest is 50% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Grace Park El Sch
Grace Park Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Swarthmore, a college-anchored residential borough in Delaware County. The school sits on Seventh Avenue in the heart of a small, walkable downtown anchored by Swarthmore College and known for tree-lined streets, historic homes, and a Quaker civic culture. Most families who send children here live in the immediate area; the school building itself sits steps from the town center and the SEPTA rail station.
The enrollment is about the size typical for a small elementary school in a well-maintained suburban district. Slightly more than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with modest representation of multiracial students, Black students, Hispanic students, and Asian students. Data on students with individualized education plans and English learners were not available in the school's reported profile.
In recent state testing, Grace Park's results sit around the middle of achievement in Delaware County. On math and English language arts, proficiency rates hovered near the fifty percent mark for students in grades three through five tested in 2024-25. Science proficiency was notably stronger, with a substantially higher proportion of students reaching proficiency when the school last reported that subject in 2022-23. Overall, the school's proficiency index across tested subjects places it above the midpoint among Delaware County districts, a meaningful position that suggests students leave fifth grade with solid foundational skills, though a parent may want to look into the math and reading instruction directly with the school to understand classroom practice and how the school is working to move more students to proficiency in those core areas.
Ridley School District, the parent district, has made two changes that affect families here. Beginning in 2022-23, the district moved to full-day kindergarten, eliminating half-day programs and shifting the rhythm of early childhood in the district. The district has also rolled out a cognitive assessment and personalized learning model called MindPrint in grades six through twelve and is now extending this into elementary grades, so third graders in Ridley schools will eventually take this assessment to help teachers tailor instruction. Additionally, property taxes in Ridley have risen substantially over recent years, with the district approving further increases for the coming budget cycle. For families considering a move to Swarthmore, the cumulative weight of these tax increases is material to the math of home affordability in the area.
Housing in Swarthmore's zip code is valued well above state and national medians, and rents are proportionally high. A median home is priced at a premium to both the Pennsylvania and national averages, and monthly rent consumes close to a fifth of median household income in the area. Mortgage payments at current rates run several hundred dollars higher than rental costs. The borough has grown only slightly in recent decades and remains constrained by limited developable land, though recent town-center projects and a liquor license referendum have brought new businesses and modest infill activity.
Grace Park is part of a district that serves a broader area including Ridley Park and neighboring communities, not just Swarthmore proper. Students who graduate from Grace Park will move on to middle school outside town, in Wallingford. The school offers a traditional elementary pathway in a settled, intellectual-leaning community where the college's civic ethos shapes daily life, but the choice to live here is fundamentally shaped by housing cost and the value families place on proximity to Swarthmore College's culture and the small-town walkability that surrounds it.
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