Schools

Colonial School District Is 10th In New Ranking Of PA's Best School Districts

An impressive ranking for the Colonial School District.

A new ranking of the state's best school districts has been released and Colonial School District has ranked 10th.

Niche.com, which recently released its annual rankings of the best school districts in the country, looked at data from the U.S. Department of Education as well as test scores, college data and ratings collected from users.

The methodology for each category of ranking varied. (Click here for more information on how Niche calculates its rankings.)

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Niche assigns a standardized score for each factor, which is then weighted before an overall score is calculated for each school district. The overall scores are again standardized and some districts are disqualified from receiving a final letter grade if there isn’t enough data. School districts are then ranked numerically and assigned grades.

Colonial School District overall received an A+ from Niche.com, receiving the highest grades for the following categories: teachers, clubs and activities, college prep, administration, and health and safety. (You can see the full report card here.)

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"I love CSD! My daughter started in kindergarten and is now in eleventh grade, she had learned so much, made life long friends, the staff is incredible!," one reviewer said.

According to Niche, these are the 25 best school districts in Pennsylvania:

(Click here to see the full list)

  1. Tredyffrin-Easttown School District, Wayne
  2. Radnor Township School District, Wayne
  3. North Allegheny School District, Pittsburgh
  4. Lower Merion School District, Ardmore
  5. Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, Kennett Square
  6. Fox Chapel Area School District, Pittsburgh
  7. Mt. Lebanon School District, Pittsburgh
  8. Upper St. Clair School District, Pittsburgh
  9. Great Valley School District, Malvern
  10. Colonial School District, Plymouth Meeting
  11. North Penn School District, Lansdale
  12. Central Bucks School District, Doylestown
  13. Wissahickon School District, Ambler
  14. Quaker Valley School District, Leetsdale
  15. School District of Haverford Township, Havertown
  16. State College Area School District, State College
  17. Hampton Township School District, Allison Park
  18. Council Rock School District, Newtown
  19. Lower Moreland Township School District, Huntington Valley
  20. Wallingford-Swarthmore School District, Wallingford
  21. Parkland School District, Allentown
  22. Spring-Ford School District, Royersford
  23. Rose Tree Media School District, Media
  24. Upper Dublin School District, Maple Glen
  25. Garnet Valley School District, Glen Mills

Niche’s data for its K-12 school district rankings comes from various sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Civil Rights Data Collection.

The rankings also rely on data that is self-reported by Niche users and schools. (Click here to learn more about where Niche’s data comes from.)

What do you think of the rankings? Let us know in the comments below.

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