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.