Seneca Valley Jumps Up a Spot, Ranks No. 15 in Region's Top Districts

has jumped up a notch in the Pittsburgh Business Times annual school rankings of districts across the Pittsburgh area and the entire state. The findings were released Friday.

Seneca Valley ranked 15th out of 105 districts in the region, which is one higher than the no. 16 ranking it received in 2011.

Last year, Seneca Valley was named the highest-scoring district in Butler County. This year, that honor goes to Mars Area School District, which ranked no. 13 on the Pittsburgh Business Times list of top schools. Seneca Valley is the second-highest scoring district in Butler County. 

To come up with the rankings, the newspaper analyzed all the school districts' performances based on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment Exam results. Pittsburgh Business Times looked at three years of scores, with the current year given the most weight.

Statewide, Seneca Valley was ranked 47^th out of 500 public school district across the commonwealth. That’s an improvement from 2011, when the district was ranked no. 53.

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

Below are the top 15 ranked school districts in the Pittsburgh area:

1. Upper St. Clair School District
2. Mt. Lebanon School District
3. North Allegheny School District
4. Hampton Township School District
5. South Fayette Township School District
6. Fox Chapel Area School District
8. Quaker Valley School District
9. Franklin Regional School District
10. Penn-Trafford School District
11. Norwin School District
12. Bethal Park School District
13. Mars Area School District
14. Pine-Richland School District
15. Seneca Valley School District

What are your thoughts on the Pittsburgh Business Times' 2012 rankings? Tell us in the comments.