Chester Upland School District - Academic Achievement

Academic Achievement

In July 2012, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released a report identifying Chester-Upland School District schools as among the lowest achieving schools for reading and mathematics in 2011. Nine CUSD schools including: Columbus Elementary School, Main Street Elementary School, Stetser Elementary School, The Village at Chester Upland, Toby Farms Elementary School, Chester Upland School of the Arts, Chester High School Crozier Allied Health School, Chester High School Science and Discovery School and Chester High School are all among the 15% lowest achieving schools in the Commonwealth. Parents and students may be eligible for scholarships to transfer to another public or nonpublic school through the state's Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program passed in June 2012. The scholarships are limited to those students whose family's income is less than $60,000 annually, with another $12,000 allowed per dependent. Maximum scholarship award is $8,500, with special education students receiving up to $15,000 for a year's tuition. Parents pay any difference between the scholarship amount and the receiving school's tuition rate. Students may seek admission to neighboring public school districts. Each year the PDE publishes the tuition rate for each individual public school district. Among the 4 neighboring Districts, the lowest tuition rate is $8,967 at Penn-Delco School District. Twenty eight public schools in Delaware County are among the lowest achieving schools in 2011. According to the report, parents in 414 public schools (74 school districts) were offered access to these scholarships. For the 2012-13 school year, seven public school districts in Pennsylvania had all of their schools placed on the list including: Sto-Rox School District, Chester Upland School District, Clairton City School District, Duquesne City School District, Farrell Area School District, Wilkinsburg Borough School District and Steelton-Highspire School District. Funding for the scholarships comes from donations by businesses which receive a state tax credit for donating

Statewide Academic Ranking

Chester-Upland School District was ranked 496th out of 498 Pennsylvania school districts in 2012, by the Pittsburgh Business Times. The ranking was based on the last three years of student academic performance on the reading, writing, math and science PSSAs. The PSSAs are given to all children in grades 3rd through 8th and the 11th grade in high school. Adapted examinations are given to children in the special education programs. Chester Upland School District ranked 15th out of 15 public school districts in Delaware County. The highest ranking public school district in Delaware County was Radnor Township School District which ranked 4th statewide (2012).

• 2011 - 496th
• 2010 - 497th
• 2009 - 497th
• 2008 - 498th
• 2007 - 497th out of 498 school districts.

Statewide Overachievers Ranking

In 2011, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported an Overachievers Ranking for 498 Pennsylvania school districts. Chester-Upland School District ranked 491st. In 2010, the district ranked 497th. The paper describes the ranking as: "a ranking answers the question - which school districts do better than expectations based upon economics? This rank takes the Honor Roll rank and adds the percentage of students in the district eligible for free and reduced lunch into the formula. A district finishing high on this rank is smashing expectations, and any district above the median point is exceeding expectations."

In January 2012, testimony before the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee Public Hearing on Fiscally Distressed School Districts revealed that 37.3% of the district's students were on grade level in both reading and math as measured on the 2010-11 PSSAs. Statewide 75.3% of public and charter school students were on grade level in both reading and math. Additionally, only two of the district's nine schools had achieved adequate yearly progress as defined by the Pennsylvania Department of Education under No Child Left Behind. No Chester Upland school grade was performing at the statewide level of academic achievement in reading, math or science. In 2004, 22.6% of the students were achieving on grade level in reading and mathematics. at that time 60% of students statewide were on grade level in reading and math.

In 2009, the academic achievement of the students of Chester Upland School DIstrict was in the bottom percentile among 500 Pennsylvania School Districts. Scale - (0-99; 100 is state best)

In 2011, Chester Upland School District received a $924,300 PreK Counts state grant for taxpayer funded preschool for 119 - 3 year olds and 4 year olds.