West Chester Is 31st In New Ranking Of PA's Best School Districts

A new ranking of the state's best school districts has been released and the West Chester Area School District has ranked 31st.

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.)

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.

Overall, West Chester received an A+ from Niche.com, receiving the highest grades for the following categories: academics, teachers, clubs and activities, college prep, and administration.(You can see the full report card here.)

"West Chester Area School District (WCASD) is great overall. I grew up in this district and went through all their schools from kindergarten to high school. It is in a wonderful area that isn't very secluded, which is great because there is always something to do and places do go," 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.

Patch file photo