The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in Science. The lowest is 37% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Riverside El Sch East
Riverside Elementary School East is a grades three-through-six building in Moosic, Pennsylvania, serving a school community in substantial economic hardship. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school enrolls about four hundred fifty students across a four-grade span, with roughly equal class sizes and no missing-data gaps in enrollment by grade.
The student body is predominantly white, with meaningful populations of Hispanic and Black students and smaller shares of Asian, multiracial, and Native American students. Data on students receiving special education services or identified as English learners was not available, so a reader cannot assess those populations from the information on hand.
In state math and English language arts testing, proficiency rates fall well below typical benchmarks. About one-third of students tested in math met the proficiency standard, and about two-fifths met it in English language arts. Science data is older (2022-23) and shows substantially stronger results, with about two-thirds of students proficient. The reason for the gap in recent science testing was not specified in the data provided. Compared to other elementary schools in Lackawanna County, Riverside Elementary East's overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among county schools, a position that reflects strength relative to its immediate neighbors even as absolute performance lags statewide norms.
The school sits in a community with its own character. Moosic is a small Lackawanna County borough directly south of Scranton, built around older residential neighborhoods alongside regional commercial and entertainment infrastructure. The borough has transitioned from a coal and textile economy to light manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and retail. Major employers include manufacturers like Bazooka Inc. and Signature Building Systems, as well as Mactac adhesives, and the borough anchors a wider I-81 and I-380 logistics corridor that includes Amazon and ID Logistics across municipal lines. PNC Field (home of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders), Montage Mountain's ski area and waterpark, and regional shopping and dining draw traffic from across the valley. Moosic is car-dependent; most residents drive to work or amenities rather than walk. Public transit runs through COLTS buses.
Unlike communities with dense downtowns, Moosic organizes itself around the Main Street and Birney Avenue corridor and the Montage Mountain commercial zone. Schools are on separate campuses: two elementary schools serve Moosic, while the junior-senior high school (grades seven through twelve) sits across the Lackawanna River in neighboring Taylor.
Housing in the zip code surrounding the school is moderately valued relative to statewide and national benchmarks, with recent appreciation and a mix of owner-occupied custom builds, manufactured homes and public-housing infill. The borough is among the fastest-growing areas in Lackawanna County while the broader county experiences population decline, and the Riverside School District has held the property-tax levy flat for four consecutive years, maintaining one of the lowest millage rates in the county.
The district recently added three licensed professional counselors through a multi-year federal violence-prevention grant, expanding mental-health capacity across Riverside schools in a way that reaches students at this building.
Riverside Elementary East, then, serves a high-poverty elementary population in a growing but economically transitional small town. Academic performance in reading and math trails proficiency benchmarks, a pattern a parent may want to explore further with the school. The broader context is stable property-tax policy, regional growth, and expanded counselor support, which provide structural footing even as core instruction in early elementary years sets the foundation for what the tested proficiency data reflects.
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