IN North Allegheny Fall 2017 | Page 54

North Allegheny Ranks High in the Niche 2018 K-12 School & District Rankings For the fourth consecutive year, North Allegheny is ranked as one of the best school districts in the nation by Niche.com. Niche released its annual 2018 K-12 School & District rankings on Monday, Aug. 7. Among the 10,574 school districts analyzed nationwide, North Allegheny was ranked as one of the Best Districts in the Nation (#15), Best Districts in Pennsylvania (#3), Best District in the Pittsburgh area (#1) and Best District in Allegheny County (#1). North Allegheny was the only school district in Western Pennsylvania to be ranked in the top 40 of the national Best School Districts list. “It’s a true honor to be recognized once again as a top school district by our students and parents,” says Dr. Robert Scherrer, Superintendent of North Allegheny. “We are not only fortunate to have an immense amount of support from the community, but also to have an incredible team of teachers and staff who are dedicated to providing superior educational and extracurricular experiences to our students.” The District also ranked nationally in the top 15 in subcategories for District with the Best Teachers (#6) and Best Place to Teach (#13), and secured top rankings in Pennsylvania for District with the Best Teachers (#2) and Best Place to Teach (#3). On the District’s Niche Report Card, North Allegheny received an “A+” as its Overall Niche Grade. Areas such as sports, clubs and activities, health and safety, and administration also each received an “A+”. North Allegheny earned this ranking by scoring highly on a variety of factors including SAT/ACT scores, student-teacher ratio, the quality of colleges student consider and reviews from students and parents. The statistical data used in this ranking was obtained by the U.S. Department of Education and then analyzed by Niche’s team of data scientists to create the ranking. “School climate, future preparation, achievement and growth, and student and staff wellness are things we emphasize equally at North Allegheny,” Dr. Scherrer says. “We are especially proud of the Niche rankings because they measure our successes beyond standardized tests and evaluations.” For more information on Niche’s methodology for determining their rankings, visit about.niche.com/methodology/best-school- districts/. 52 North Allegheny NASD Framework for Success The “success” of a school district is often measured through test scores, graduation rates, rankings and awards. However, North Allegheny places equal emphasis on things like student engagement, career and college readiness, digital citizenship and student and staff wellness. After a team of District representatives researched this topic and collected feedback from stakeholders over the course of the 2016-2017 school year, the District developed the Measuring Success Framework, which will allow NA to more holistically measure success beyond the typical metrics. Beginning this school year, the Framework will serve as an important communication tool regarding what is measured and why.