Pittsburgh Classical 6-8

Pittsburgh Classical 6-8 is a small middle school in the Pittsburgh School District, serving 245 students in grades 6 through 8, and it stands out for its remarkable progress in supporting students with disabilities and its perfect zero percent dropout rate over the past five years, despite serving a community with very high economic need.

This school has a few standout strengths that set it apart from nearby schools. Most notably, it ranks in the 69th percentile statewide for serving its disabled students—a huge improvement from just two years ago and far better than any other middle school in the district. Additionally, 50% of its 8th graders are proficient in English Language Arts (ELA), which is above the state average and significantly higher than the district average. This is a bright spot compared to Pittsburgh Arsenal 6-8, where only 36.5% of 8th graders are proficient in ELA. However, math proficiency at Classical is critically low at just 10.9%, which is less than half the district average and a fraction of the state average. This creates a wide gap between its math and ELA performance, the largest among all district middle schools.

While the school spends a high amount per student ($31,451), its academic outcomes are among the lowest in the region, especially when compared to Jefferson Middle School in the Mt Lebanon School District, which spends much less but achieves far higher math scores. Interestingly, Pittsburgh Schiller 6-8, another high-poverty district school with similar funding, achieves nearly three times the math proficiency, suggesting that factors like leadership and teaching practices play a big role. Despite these challenges, Pittsburgh Classical is on an upward trend, improving its overall state ranking for three consecutive years and showing strong growth in supporting its most vulnerable students.