Baldwin-Whitehall Falls Farther Down Local School Rankings

The Pittsburgh Business Times placed Baldwin-Whitehall 56th out of 105 western Pennsylvania public school districts in its annual rankings, published on April 6, this year.

The  ranked 53rd in the , 47th the year before that, 43rd in 2009 and 39th in 2008.

The Pittsburgh Business Times placed B-W 219th out of 500 public school districts statewide this year, down from 206th last year and 182nd the year before that.

The publication bases its rankings on how districts perform in Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams.

"We look at three years of scores," the Pittsburgh Business Times says on its website, "with the current year given the most weight."

The publication breaks down school districts by grade, as well, giving rankings in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and 11th grades.

Eleventh grade is Baldwin-Whitehall's strongest-performing level, as it placed 33rd out of all public 11th-grade levels in western Pennsylvania. Fifth grade wasn't far behind at 38th place.

B-W placed as follows in western Pennsylvania in the other grades: third (60th), fourth (73rd), sixth (77th), seventh (71st) and eighth (68th).

Despite falling in the overall district rankings, five of the seven ranked Baldwin-Whitehall grades rose at least one spot this year.

The  is ranked first in western Pennsylvania and in all of Pennsylvania for the seventh consecutive year.

What are your thoughts on the rankings?

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