The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Science. The lowest is 25% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on East Lansdowne El Sch
East Lansdowne Elementary serves a small, fully residential neighborhood school in a tightly knit borough on the eastern edge of Delaware County, immediately adjacent to Southwest Philadelphia. The school enrolls students from kindergarten through sixth grade in a community that is nearly all Black or African American, with every student qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The enrollment is stable and modest for its grade span, distributed fairly evenly across grades.
The academic picture is a softer area for this school. In the most recent state testing available, math proficiency stood at a low level, with English language arts proficiency also well below typical district and state patterns. Science data from a prior year showed similarly depressed results. Across the proficiency metrics available, East Lansdowne Elementary sits below the midpoint relative to districts in Delaware County, placing it among the weaker performers in the county comparison set. A parent may want to look into further detail with the school about what reading and math supports are in place and what the school's trajectory has been.
One concrete change coming to the school is Pennsylvania's new structured literacy requirement. Starting with the 2027-28 school year, the school must adopt an evidence-based reading curriculum and screen all kindergarten through third grade students for reading competency three times per year. For families with early-grade readers, this represents a district-wide shift toward research-backed literacy instruction, though implementation effectiveness will depend on teacher training and resources.
The broader backdrop is significant. William Penn School District, to which East Lansdowne Elementary belongs, won a landmark 2023 lawsuit declaring Pennsylvania's school funding system unconstitutional. The ruling is triggering substantial new state dollars, but the district is simultaneously navigating a severe fiscal crisis. For 2025-26, the board enacted a notable property tax increase—the largest in recent years—while cutting central office positions, mental health staff, and elementary academic interventionists and imposing a hiring freeze. During the state budget impasse in fall 2025, the district discontinued all non-athletic after-school extracurriculars and warned it could sustain operations only through January 2026 without released state funds. State funding accounts for a substantial share of the district's budget, making it structurally vulnerable to state-level delays. For families considering this school or the borough, the tax increase and concurrent reduction in in-school support staff are material financial and educational factors to weigh.
East Lansdowne itself is a small, walkable, tree-lined streetcar suburb built out before World War II with Craftsman and American Foursquare homes on a tight grid. It is fully built, leaving little room for new housing development; recent activity is mostly small-scale renovation and rental conversion of owner-occupied homes. Home values are moderate for the region, and rents have been rising. Transit access is via the SEPTA Media/Wawa Regional Rail line, with the nearest station in adjacent Lansdowne. The borough has no independent downtown; civic life centers on the Municipal Center, and the school serves as a key neighborhood institution within the residential grid.
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