The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in Science. The lowest is 33% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Towanda Area El Sch
Towanda Area Elementary School serves grades three through six in a small borough in Bradford County that functions as the rural county seat. The school sits on a separate district campus from the downtown civic core but is within an easy walk for families in the surrounding residential neighborhoods.
The school enrolls a small to mid-sized cohort across its four grades. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects both the economic circumstances of families in the area and the school's role as a Title I school. The student body is predominantly white, with very small shares of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds, consistent with the composition of the broader Towanda borough and surrounding region.
Academic performance shows uneven results across subjects. In English language arts, fewer than one-third of students reached proficiency on the state assessment. In math, proficiency was somewhat higher but still below the midpoint—roughly two in five students met the standard. Science assessment data comes from a prior year and shows substantially stronger performance, with roughly seven in ten students meeting the standard, though that earlier cohort was also smaller. When averaged across tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among the eight districts in Bradford County, a position that rests heavily on the science results.
The state testing data itself carries no average scale score or participation rate, so a parent may want to reach out to the school directly to understand how close students are performing relative to the cut score and whether any students were unable to participate in testing.
Towanda has experienced gradual population decline from its early-twentieth-century peak, though the borough remains a functional small town with compact downtown civic anchors, riverfront parks, and modest walkability. Housing prices are well below the state average. The broader county economy is anchored by county government, manufacturing (including tungsten powder production and polymer-film operations), and natural gas-related industry from the Marcellus Shale development. The district recently approved a modest property tax increase for the 2025-2026 school year and is using fund balance to cover near-term operational deficits, signaling sustained cost pressure. For families considering a move to the area, both the school's current academic profile and the district's budget trajectory are worth discussing with the administration before committing.
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