The middle school math examination serves as a checkpoint for high school preparation. Performance on this exam can help predict high school success in math. 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 2023, 30% of students in Lancaster County and 12% of Lancaster City School District students passed the PSSA Grade 8 Math exam, up 4 percentage points for the County and 5 percentage points for the District from 2022. In contrast, 15% of historically underperforming students in Lancaster County and 10% of historically underperforming students in the Lancaster City School District passed the exam in 2023, an increase of 3 percentage point in the County and 5 percentage points in the District from 2022. Lancaster County's 2023 proficiency rates were slightly higher than statewide rates of 13% for historically underperforming and 26% for all students.

Amongst neighboring counties, Lancaster County had the third-highest proficiency rate among all students, following Chester (34%) and Cumberland (32%), and is tied for the highest performance rate among historically underperforming students with Cumberland followed by York and Lebanon (both 14%), Chester (12%), Berks (9%) and Dauphin (8%).

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.

The Spring 2020 PSSA was cancelled in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 2021 PSSA results were delayed. 2021 results may not reflect representative samples of the schools' students. Cross-year comparisons of proficiency are likely to be inaccurate for this reason.