Letter to the editor: Quaker Valley students deserve better

Because many people are concerned about the timing, location, cost and safety of the proposed new Quaker Valley High School, their attention has been diverted from the fundamental issue of how well the Quaker Valley School District is educating our community’s children.

Using the figures from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s database for 2019, the most recent date for which objective data are publicly available, I have calculated the percentage of all public schools in Allegheny County that rank above the schools in the Quaker Valley School District in six categories – fourth grade English and math, eighth grade English and math, and 11th grade English and math in terms of the percentage of students who tested “proficient” or “advanced.” It is important to note that the schools of the Pittsburgh School District are included. If the Quaker Valley schools were ranked relative to just the other suburban school districts of Allegheny County, the performance of Quaker Valley would look even worse.

The data below summarizes the percentage of public schools in Allegheny County that surpass Quaker Valley’s schools by school and subject matter:

• 51.75% of schools outrank Osborne Elementary in English and 25.87% outrank it in math

• 19.58% of schools outrank Edgeworth Elementary in English and 15.38% outrank it in math

• 12.92% of schools outrank Quaker Valley Middle School in English and 21.18% outrank it in math

• 18.18% of schools outrank Quaker Valley High School in English and 13.64% outrank it in math

In none of these cases is a Quaker Valley school in the top 10 percent of county schools. In three of the eight cases, the Quaker Valley school is not even in the top 20 percent. And some unfortunate children are sentenced to attend the Osborne school, which is not even in the top half of public schools in the county in terms of teaching English.

It is true, to take the most favorable example, that the middle school is better in English than 85% of the schools in the county. But that 85% includes the schools in the Pittsburgh School District, a low bar indeed. Moreover, it ignores the fact that the Quaker Valley School District has one of the highest costs per student of any school district in the state. Top dollar deserves top performance.

Relative performance can be improved only if it is monitored. Does the Quaker Valley School Board monitor relative performance? At a public meeting earlier this year, I asked that question of two different members of the school board, one of whom is the current president of the school board. Both admitted that they were unaware of the relative performance of the Quaker Valley schools. Both questioned where my data came from. Apparently, neither had made any effort to analyze data that, as they should know, is publicly available from Pennsylvania’s Department of Education.

Given the district’s high costs, it is a disgrace that its schools are not in the top 5% in the county. The taxpayers deserve that. Much more importantly, our community’s children deserve that.

Jeffrey Morrow

Sewickley Heights