Children’s development and educational success hinges upon a myriad of factors, including prekindergarten participation, the adequacy of school funding, and the challenges and needs of the student and youth population. Educational attainment levels are associated with greater earnings and standard of living, and the rate of students pursuing further education also provides an indirect measure of the strength of the high schools. In Lancaster County, pre-kindergarten enrollment and school spending have both increased while the number of youth pursuing higher education has decreased.

Prekindergarten helps prepare children both socially and academically for school, and can be especially important for low-income children who tend to be exposed to a less rich vocabulary and have access to fewer resources than their peers. In Lancaster County in 2019, 14% of 3- and 4-year-olds were enrolled in prekindergarten programs, up from 9% in 2007, though still below the state rate of 23%. 

School spending in Lancaster County across public school districts was $18,100 per student in 2020, an increase of 54% since 2001.

Student population challenges include those needing special education services and the number of disengaged youth. In Lancaster County, 19% of Lancaster County students received special education services in 2020. This was a higher proportion than the nation, but similar to the state. About 6% of youths ages 16 to 19 in Lancaster County were disengaged in 2016-20 – not working or attending school. That was flat since 2000 and similar to Pennsylvania and the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic complicated Pennsylvania’s student testing: the spring Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 results were delayed. In general, 2021 results show worse outcomes, with declines in results across all subject area and levels, from district to county to state. It is difficult to determine how much of this decline is due to actual effects of the COVID pandemic as 2021 results may not reflect representative samples of the schools' students. Cross-year comparisons of proficiency are likely to be inaccurate for this reason. 

Nonetheless, some long-term trends are consistent: “Historically underperforming” students -- defined by Pennsylvania as students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged students, and English language learners -- scored consistently lower than the total County-wide student body, with a gap of about 18 points on 3^rd grade English and math, gaps of 20 and 14 points, respectively, on 8^th grade English and math and gaps of 9 and 21 points, respectively, on 11^th grade English and math.

In 2020, 57% of high school graduates in Lancaster County planned to attend college at either a 2- or 4-year program, a decrease of 6 percentage points from 2008. This was lower than the current state rate of 60% (which declined by 9 percentage points over this time period). Lancaster’s rate ranked it similar to neighboring counties, whose college-bound rates ranged from 49% to 69%.

Young adults provide a regional economy with a supply of young workers starting out in careers. Lancaster County had a little more than 24,000 young adults in 2016-20 with a bachelor's degree or higher, making up 5.9% of the total population, below the state and nation.

The rates of higher education attainment in Lancaster County by race/ethnicity were generally below the state and national rates for almost every group. The percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher were highest for Asian Americans (43%) followed by whites (29%). African Americans and Hispanics in Lancaster had lower rates -- 21% and 14% respectively.

Enrollment in local colleges in Lancaster County has decreased 4% since 2002, a 26% decline from the peak of 29,080 enrollments in 2008.