Mastery of communication skills, including reading, writing, speaking and listening, is critical for success at college and in the workplace. The Pennsylvania Keystone Exam is one path for high school students to demonstrate readiness for postsecondary success. Proficiency among historically underperforming students can show whether districts and education policymakers have made progress in closing the achievement gap between traditionally underserved groups and other students.

In 2021, 23% of students in Lancaster County and 24% of students in the Lancaster City School District passed the Pennsylvania Keystone Grade 11 English Language Arts exam, down significantly from 76% in the County and up from 50% in the District in 2019. In contrast, 15% of historically underperforming students in Lancaster County and 19% of historically underperforming students in the Lancaster City School District passed the exam in 2021, down from 56% in the County and 46% in the District in 2019. Lancaster County's 2021 proficiency rates were lower than statewide rates of 57% for all students and 37% for historically underperforming students.

Lancaster County has the fifth-highest proficiency rate among all students, following Cumberland (70%), York (60%), Chester (36%) and Lebanon (24%) and the fourth-highest performance rate among historically underperforming students, following Cumberland (49%), York (31%) and Chester (27%). Lancaster County's share of historically underperforming students in eleventh grade (15%) is similar to Lebanon (14%) and higher than Dauphin (12%) and Berks (7%).

As assessments vary among states, it is not possible to include comparable data for the nation or other areas in this indicator. Data are from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

2021 results may not reflect representative samples of the schools' students. Cross-year comparisons of proficiency are likely to be inaccurate for this reason.