East Allegheny School District - Academic Achievement

Academic Achievement

For the 2011-2012 school year, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) ranked East Allegheny High School 451st out of the 676 public high schools in Pennsylvania. The ranking was based solely on the combined math and reading PSSA test scores for that school year.

In July 2012, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) released a report identifying on East Allegheny School District school as among the lowest achieving schools for reading and mathematics in 2011. East Allegheny High School was 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. Fifty three public schools in Allegheny 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, eight 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, William Penn School District and Steelton-Highspire School District. Funding for the scholarships comes from donations by businesses which receive a partial state business tax credit for donating.

In 2012, the East Allegheny School District ranked 449th out of 498 Pennsylvania districts by the Pittsburgh Business Times in 2012. The ranking was based on student academic achievement as demonstrated on the last three years of the PSSAs for: reading, writing math and science. 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.

• 2011 - 434th
• 2010 - 416th
• 2009 - 377th
• 2008 - 376th
• 2007 - 418th of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts.

Local regional ranking

East Allegheny School District was ranked 92nd out of 105 western 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 PSSAs for math, reading, writing and science. (includes 105 districts in: Allegheny County, Armstrong County, Beaver County, Butler County, Fayette County, Washington County and Westmoreland County excludes Duquesne City School District & Midland Borough School District due to no high schools)

• 2011 - 91st
• 2010 - 86th
• 2009 - 79th
• 2008 - 77th

Overachiever statewide ranking

In 2012, the Pittsburgh Business Times also reported an Overachievers Ranking for 498 Pennsylvania school districts. East Allegheny School District ranked 42nd. In 2011, the district was 52nd. The editor 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 2009, the academic achievement of the students of the East Allegheny School District was in the 15th percentile of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts. Scale (0-99; 100 is state best)

District AYP status history

In 2011, East Allegheny School District achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). In 2011, 94 percent of the 500 Pennsylvania public school districts achieved the No Child Left Behind Act progress level of 72% of students reading on grade level and 67% of students demonstrating on grade level math. In 2011, 46.9 percent of Pennsylvania school districts achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) based on student performance. An additional 37.8 percent of school districts made AYP based on a calculated method called safe harbor, 8.2 percent on the growth model and 0.8 percent on a two-year average performance. East Allegheny School District achieved AYP status each year from 2006 through 2009, while in 2005 the District was in Warning status due to lagging student achievement.