Early literacy skills are critical to a successful school experience. Third grade is considered an important milestone in a student's career in terms of reading proficiency and is correlated to whether a student will graduate high school.

In 2025, 51% of students in Lancaster County scored as proficient or advanced on the PSSA Grade 3 English Language Arts exam, slightly higher than the state rate of 49%. Both the county and state rates decreased by 9 and 7 percentage points, respectively from 2024.

In contrast, 36% of economically disadvantaged students and 12% of English Language Learners in Lancaster County passed the exam in 2025. Among racial and ethnic groups, 71% of Asian and 61% of White students passed compared to 26% of Hispanic students and 21% of Black or African American students.

Compared with surrounding counties, Lancaster County had the third-highest proficiency rate among all students, following Chester (60%) and Cumberland (57%). Lancaster had the lowest performance rate among African Americans and the fourth-highest performance rate among economically disadvantaged students, following Cumberland (41%), and Lebanon and York (both 38%).

A variety of factors are believed to contribute to disparities in test scores and other measures of student achievement. School systems in the United States are highly segregated, and students of color disproportionately attend schools with high proportions of low-income students who may not have benefited from early learning opportunities at the same rate as other students. Schools also have different levels of resources ranging from qualified/experienced teachers to advanced courses to facilities and technology, and schools with large Black and Latino populations often have lower levels. In addition, teachers across all school systems tend to be disproportionately white, and teaching practices and curriculum may not be culturally relevant to students of color.

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.

Pennsylvania defines economically disadvantaged groups as students identified by their school district through Pennsylvania's student information system as experiencing economic disadvantage based on poverty-related records such as SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, Census-poor status, foster or institutional placement, or eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals.