What are Allegheny County's (Pittsburgh) best elementary schools? (Lebanon, Upper St. Clair: fit in, crime)

[sz89128]

I am relocating back to my home state of PA and am looking at the Pittsburgh region for a job and to raise my family. My daughter is 8 and I will need to find an elementary school for her. I would like to stay as close to the city as that is where my job would be. I know Pittsburgh Public Schools has some really great (and bad) schools. I would love to know which Pittsburgh Public Schools are good if we end up living in the city.

Otherwise, what would you say for elementary schools outside the city? I do know the Pittsburgh region well and wanted to get some more insight from parents.

I would never have her go to Upper St. Clair as that place is horrible. I know it is upper class but the parents are snobby and the kids are all stuck up. Mt. Lebanon has a big drug problem because, again, the parents are all stuck up and care more about themselves than what their kids are doing. I know both of these schools first hand.

I would like an area where the parents actually care and the education is good.

[echo12be]

Not Mt. Lebanon, I hate it here! After 9 years of living in the "Bubble" we have decided to move. We want more house for our money, and get away from the judgmental snobs. Yes the schools are great and I will miss walking places, but I will not miss the people! If you are out of the norm at all you are looked down upon. For example, single mothers, different races, lower incomes. The stay at home gossip moms will eat you alive! I have heard them at baseball games and field trips. It’s awful. I am the only working mother in my sons preschool and they all act like it is a crime to work and have children. It is especially harder for children who are not supreme athletes or well off.hate it here! After 9 years of living in the "Bubble" we have decided to move. We want more house for our money, and get away from the judgmental snobs. Yes the schools are great and I will miss walking places, but I will not miss the people! If you are out of the norm at all you are looked down upon. For example, single mothers, different races, lower incomes. The stay at home gossip moms will eat you alive! I have heard them at baseball games and field trips. It’s awful. I am the only working mother in my sons preschool and they all act like it is a crime to work and have children. It is especially harder for children who are not supreme athletes or well off.

[wmkeast52]

Instead of listening to the bunk here, go to Great Schools on the internet and see for yourself. Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair maintain some of the best elementary schools in the state. Snobbery is hard to measure but I would be interested in seeing statistics about the perceived drug problem in these two communities. I'd being willing to bet it's no worse there than in other places. Sadly, it's a national problem. I am always suspicious when someone says they hate a nice communtiy like Mt. Lebanon. If you don't fit in, it may not be the fault of those around you.

[toobusytoday]

I would suggest looking at SchoolMatters (http://www.schoolmatters.com/ - broken link) or Pennsylvania Schools - Find a Public or Private Pennsylvania School - SchoolDigger.com IMHO, Great Schools is very, very subjective and just a couple of positive or negative reviews can make or break a schools reputation.

For what it's worth, a whole bunch of people from our HS went out to visit Upper St. Clair because of it's reputation and to see what we could learn. When we've moved I concentrated more on the middle and High Schools because most elementary schools are pretty good, but the secondary schools are where the rubber meets the road....

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

Originally Posted by sz89128

I would love to know which Pittsburgh Public Schools are good if we end up living in the city.

Dilworth

Pittsburgh Dilworth PreK-5

Fulton

Pittsburgh Fulton PreK-5

Minadeo

Pittsburgh Minadeo PreK-5

Pittsburgh Montesssori

Pittsburgh Montessori PreK-8

Sunnyside

http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/sunnyside/site/default.asp

[BrianTH]

Just an aside, but I would really be cautious about using sources that rate schools using raw test scores, since non-school factors can have a big impact on test scores. This ranking still isn't ideal, but at least it has something of a value-added approach:

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pi...o_schools.html

Unfortunately they don't break it down by grade, just school district.

[greg42]

Well, the overachiever rank is specific to throwing in a bit of the socioeconomic background of the district. The Biz Times does have ranks of elementary separately (or, more specifically, the grade levels that take the tests, broken down by elementary school), but those are based only on scores. They take a few years of scores, at least, but in the end they are just test scores.

School Guide - REPORTS - Pittsburgh Business Times

[BrianTH]

Sorry, that was unclear--I meant the Overachiever ranking wasn't broken down further.

[cxa180]

We just moved here from Baltimore after having our second child and focused on the following school districts: North Allegheny (where we ended up moving to), Hampton and Pine Richland. North Hills is also getting very promising.

[stevo6]

In my opinion, the quality of a school has mostly to do with the people who attend it and little to do with the teachers, administrators, or amount of money that is funneled into it. Motivated people create a better learning environment.