The top reported proficiency rate is 79% in Science. The lowest is 50% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Park Hills El Sch
Park Hills Elementary serves kindergarten through fifth grade in Hanover, a mixed-use borough in York County anchored by major snack-food manufacturers and a dense historic downtown. The school enrolls a mixed population: a substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, the enrollment is predominantly white, and Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students make up a smaller portion of the student body. Specific counts for students with IEPs or English learners were not available.
The school's state assessment results show mixed performance. In math and English language arts, proficiency among students in grades 3 through 5 sits at roughly midpoint, with about half of tested students reaching proficiency in ELA and slightly better results in math. Science proficiency is notably stronger, with a much higher share of students demonstrating proficiency when that subject was last assessed. Across tested subjects and grades, Park Hills ranks in the top quartile relative to other elementary schools in York County, a positioning that reflects the breadth of its test results rather than uniform strength across all areas. A parent looking closely at math and ELA results may want to understand what supports the school is putting in place for students who are not yet proficient, and how the school plans to build on its science performance.
Hanover itself is a place of steady growth and adaptive reuse. The borough blends a historic walkable downtown with newer residential subdivisions spreading outward, including D.R. Horton and other builders adding single-family homes near Route 30. Home values in the area are moderate relative to state and national benchmarks, and rents are rising but remain below mortgage costs, making both ownership and rental accessible for families with mid-range incomes. The downtown, anchored by five streets converging at Center Square, hosts retail, restaurants, the Hanover Market House, and recurring community events. Codorus State Park lies just outside town, offering outdoor recreation. Manufacturing and snack-food processing remain the economic backbone, with employment also present in healthcare, retail, and education.
The South Western School District, which includes Park Hills, has made several policy changes in recent years that parents would want to know about. In 2023 the board adopted a new facilities policy creating three categories of bathrooms and locker rooms—by sex assigned at birth, by gender identity, and single-user gender-neutral—a shift that affects how all students navigate shared spaces. Follow-on policies adopted in 2024 require parental notification and approval for name, pronoun, and sports-team assignments that differ from a student's birth sex. The district also allows parents to opt out of classroom reading lists if they believe books address age-inappropriate topics, giving families input over what students encounter in assigned reading. These represent substantive shifts in how the district handles student identity and curriculum that would warrant a direct conversation with school staff if these matters bear on a family's enrollment decision.
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