The top reported proficiency rate is 97% in Science. The lowest is 78% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Media El Sch
Media Elementary School serves grades K–5 in downtown Media, within the Rose Tree Media School District. The school sits in a compact, walkable town that has been the Delaware County seat since the 1850s, built on a grid centered around the courthouse with brick buildings dating to a 19th-century fire ordinance. State Street is the main commercial spine, lined with shops and restaurants; the SEPTA trolley terminates there, making Media unusual as the only suburban U.S. town with a trolley ending on its main street. The borough itself is geographically fixed at a small footprint, so growth and new development cluster just outside in adjacent townships, especially at the redeveloped Promenade at Granite Run.
The school draws from a community that is predominantly white, with median household income above the national benchmark and housing values well above state averages. About one in seven students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating moderate economic diversity. The overall enrollment is small to mid-sized for an elementary school, with roughly balanced cohorts across grades K–5.
State test results show solid proficiency in math and English language arts on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment for grades 3–5. In math, roughly four in five students score at proficient levels or above; in English language arts, the rate is similar. Science proficiency, measured in a prior year, was notably strong. When proficiency rates are averaged across all tested subjects and grades, Media Elementary scores in the top quartile among schools in Delaware County, indicating it ranks above the midpoint of its county peer group.
The school's position within the district reflects a current structural tension. The district, which serves Media and surrounding townships, has contended with elementary overcrowding. An earlier plan to build a new elementary school in Edgmont Township was rejected by township supervisors in February 2023, and that legal dispute has since been resolved by the district pivoting to a different strategy. The district has now approved construction of a new K–1 Early Learning Center slated to open in 2029-2030, which will introduce full-day kindergarten to the district for the first time and relieve pressure on the four existing elementary buildings, including Media Elementary. Until that facility opens, families should expect Media Elementary to remain at or near capacity.
Currently, Media Elementary is where local families with young children begin their K–5 journey in the borough's downtown, within walking distance of the courthouse, shops, and parks. The school feeds into Springton Lake Middle School (grades 6–8) and then Penncrest High School (grades 9–12), which are located on separate campuses outside the borough. A parent considering Media Elementary would be choosing a school with above-county-average proficiency, a downtown location in a highly walkable community, and enrollment at manageable scale, while understanding that the district is in the midst of a capital rebuild intended to address overcrowding over the next several years.
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