The top reported proficiency rate is 78% in Science. The lowest is 30% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Neil Armstrong #40
Neil Armstrong #40 is a public elementary school serving kindergarten through fourth grade in Scranton, located in the North Lincoln Avenue and Clearview Street area of the city. It serves a small enrollment typical of its grade band, with the student body drawn from the neighborhood and distributed fairly evenly across the five grades.
The school's enrollment is entirely composed of students from families qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. The student population is racially and ethnically mixed, with roughly equal shares of white and Hispanic students, a smaller share of Black students, a small Asian population, and smaller numbers of students of other backgrounds. Data on the number of students receiving special education services or English learner support is not publicly reported for this school, though the district as a whole has seen a marked rise in special education enrollment in recent years.
Academic performance on state assessments shows a mixed picture. In both math and English language arts, proficiency rates on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment fall well below typical benchmarks. Science proficiency was much stronger in the most recent reported year. When a proficiency index averaging performance across tested subjects is calculated, Neil Armstrong #40 ranks above the midpoint among the schools in its peer comparison set of Lackawanna County district schools, suggesting the school is not an outlier within the local landscape, even though raw proficiency numbers in reading and math are low. State testing data for science is from an earlier year, and current results in that subject are unavailable.
The school sits in a mid-sized city with a downtown core that has seen adaptive reuse of historic buildings into rental housing marketed to students and young professionals, though greenfield development has been limited. The neighborhood around Neil Armstrong #40 is in a densely settled residential area typical of Scranton's hillside neighborhoods. Housing values in the zip code are below the state median and have declined in recent market cycles. Rent is stable relative to income. The city's economy is anchored by health care, education, government, and logistics, with Amazon and Chewy among the largest employers alongside traditional anchors like the University of Scranton and Geisinger health system.
The Scranton School District has undergone significant restructuring. It exited Pennsylvania's financial recovery program in early 2023 after sustained fiscal crisis, an exit that required school tax increases and prompted closure of some schools and reassignment of grade levels among buildings. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, a substantial increase in state funding allowed the district to restore preschool, expand kindergarten support, and restore middle school electives in art, music, and physical education that had been cut during recovery. The district also added counselor and social worker positions. Those changes, while beneficial district-wide, do not directly affect elementary schools like this one, which were spared the most severe program cuts. The district has also paused previously planned elementary school closures because of a surge in special education enrollment, meaning neighborhood schools are slated to remain open.
The elementary grades Neil Armstrong #40 serves are not tested under state accountability systems, so the proficiency data shown comes from grades three and four only, limiting the portrait of school-wide academic trends. A parent considering this school should understand that it serves a fully economically disadvantaged population, that reading and math proficiency in the tested grades is significantly below state expectations, and that the school's standing within its county is middle-of-the-road rather than distinguished. The locale offers walkable downtown amenities and proximity to cultural institutions, though the neighborhood itself is residential and car-oriented outside the immediate downtown. The school has remained open despite district restructuring, and recent increases in district resources suggest some stabilization, though questions about academic outcomes in core subjects would benefit from direct conversation with school leadership.
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