Summary:
The Kiski Area School District in Pennsylvania operates two middle schools: Kiski Area Upper Elementary School (grades 5-6) and Kiski Area IHS (grades 7-8). While both schools serve a predominantly economically disadvantaged student population, they exhibit notable differences in academic performance and other key metrics.
Kiski Area Upper Elementary School stands out for its higher proficiency rates in English Language Arts (ELA) compared to the district and state averages. In 2024-2025, 57.1% of its students were proficient or better in ELA, surpassing the district's 51.1% and Pennsylvania's 48.5%. In contrast, Kiski Area IHS lags behind in Math proficiency, with only 25.5% of students reaching proficiency or better in 2024-2025, compared to 38.5% for the district and 41.7% for the state.
Additionally, Kiski Area IHS has a relatively high dropout rate of 1.4% for the 2023-2024 school year, which warrants further investigation. The two schools also differ in their student-teacher ratios, with Kiski Area Upper Elementary School having a lower ratio of 14.5 students per teacher compared to 18.3 students per teacher at Kiski Area IHS. These insights suggest opportunities for the district to learn from the practices of the higher-performing school and implement strategies to improve academic outcomes across all its middle school campuses.
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