Cranberry Area School District

The Cranberry Area School District in Pennsylvania operates two schools: Cranberry Elementary School and Cranberry Area Junior/Senior High School. While the high school is performing in the middle of the pack for Pennsylvania high schools, the elementary school is struggling, with test scores well below the state average in both math and English language arts.

The high school has consistently ranked in the top half of Pennsylvania high schools over the past three school years and has strong graduation rates, with an 87.9% four-year graduation rate in 2023-2024. In contrast, Cranberry Elementary School's proficiency rates range from 35.1% to 43.4% in math and 36.4% to 46.4% in English language arts, compared to state averages of 37.8% to 53.5% in math and 44.7% to 50.8% in English language arts. Both schools have high rates of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, suggesting the district serves a population with significant socioeconomic challenges.

The data also shows that the high school spends significantly more per student ($27,831) compared to the elementary school ($19,944), but this higher spending does not seem to be translating into stronger academic outcomes, particularly at the elementary level. The student-teacher ratios are relatively similar between the two schools, with 13.3 students per teacher at the elementary school and 11.9 students per teacher at the high school, indicating that this factor alone does not appear to be a major driver of the performance gap.