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What's the most underrated thing about Dickson Prep STEAM Academy that outsiders don't know?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
579
Middle
DISTRICT 626 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WOODLAND HILLS SD·NCES 421650007670
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy
7301 Schoyer Avenue, Swissvale, PA 15218 · (412) 731-5816 · Allegheny County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL579 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Pennsylvania public middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.9:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.6:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
80%
465 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 75%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 210 | 36% |
| Grade 7 | 209 | 36% |
| Grade 8 | 160 | 28% |
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · STATE 59% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy→Woodland Hills High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Woodland Hills SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
29.0%
PA avg 51.1% . +0.2pp since 2023
Math
8.9%
PA avg 43.0% . -0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 9 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.0% | 8.9% |
| 2023-24 | 28.8% | 9.5% |
% Proficient or Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: PSSA + Keystone. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of PA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
19.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.2%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-23.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 20% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 43% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Dickson Prep STEAM Academy
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy's state test result (19.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dickson Prep STEAM Academy this school | 579 | 80.3% | 19.9% |
| Founders Hall Middle School McKeesport | 642 | 99.1% | 15.4% |
| Science Leadership Academy Middle School Philadelphia | 353 | 99.7% | 40.8% |
| Elkins Park School Elkins Park | 569 | 53.8% | 47.4% |
| Toby Farms Intermediate School Chester Twp | 359 | 87.5% | 7.2% |
| Penn Wood Middle School Darby | 667 | 95.2% | 17.5% |
Matched among Pennsylvania middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Dickson Prep STEAM Academy ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Allegheny County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 19.9% | #448 of 479 | #43 of 47 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 8.9% | #473 of 513 ▼ 3 | #45 of 51 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.0% | #450 of 513 ▲ 16 | #43 of 51 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 579 | #248 of 522 | #29 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.9:1 | #136 of 486 | #16 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 55.3% | #124 of 486 | #12 of 46 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 80.3% | #165 of 510 | #17 of 51 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
579
-135 (-19%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
11.9:1
was 12.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 579 | 48.8 | 11.9:1 | 80% (465) |
| 2023-24 | 616 | 50.2 | 12.3:1 | 75% (465) |
| 2022-23 | 642 | 57.2 | 11.2:1 | 100% (642) |
| 2020-21 | 714 | 57 | 12.5:1 | 100% (711) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dickson Prep STEAM Academy.
About Dickson Prep STEAM Academy
Swissvale, Pennsylvania, is home to Dickson Prep STEAM Academy, a medium-sized middle school. The school enrolls 579 students, from grades 6 through 8.
Woodland Hills SD enrolls 3,128 students in 5 schools, including Dickson Prep STEAM Academy.
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy's enrollment is 63% Black. Enrollment also includes 19% White, 9% Hispanic, and 8% multiracial. Among people living in Allegheny County, the Black share is about 13%. Dickson Prep STEAM Academy has a diversity index of 55%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
At Dickson Prep STEAM Academy, 48.8 full-time-equivalent teachers work with students, a ratio of about 11.9:1. That ratio is under the 13.2:1 average for middle schools in Pennsylvania. Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch make up 80% of enrollment. The gap from the 54% average for public schools in Allegheny County is 26 points.
allk12 grades Dickson Prep STEAM Academy a D. The grade compares the school only with Pennsylvania public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
A school in Pennsylvania with Dickson Prep STEAM Academy's free or reduced-price lunch share would be expected to score about 43.2%. Dickson Prep STEAM Academy scores 19.9%.
Among Allegheny County residents, median household income is about $78,548, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 46%, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Dickson Prep STEAM Academy is one of 277 public schools in Allegheny County, which together enroll about 141,392 students.
The closest public school to Dickson Prep STEAM Academy is Edgewood El STEAM Academy, about 0.9 miles away. Within five miles of Dickson Prep STEAM Academy, there are at least 8 other public schools. Of 7 schools in the immediate area with test results, Dickson Prep STEAM Academy ranks 7th on average proficiency.
Its NCES locale code is Suburb: Large: the school is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population of 250,000 or more.
Enrollment was 714 in 2020-21 and 579 in 2024-25, a decrease of 135 students.
Families, students, and staff can use this page to discuss sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week at Dickson Prep STEAM Academy. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Allegheny County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
1,238,177
Census ACS
Median income
$78,548
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
46%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
277
141,392 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Woodland Hills SD
- Woodland Hills High SchoolHigh · 1,006 students
- Turtle Creek EL STEAM AcademyElementary · 580 students
- Edgewood El STEAM AcademyElementary · 516 students
- Wilkins El STEAM AcademyElementary · 447 students
Nearby schools
- Edgewood El STEAM Academy0.9 mi · 516
- Environmental CS at Frick Park0.9 mi · 1,073
- Kelly Primary School1.2 mi · 276
- Pittsburgh Colfax K-81.3 mi · 789
- Pittsburgh Allderdice High School1.4 mi · 1,386
- Barrett Elementary School1.5 mi · 225
Frequently asked questions
About Dickson Prep STEAM AcademyWhat is the total enrollment at Dickson Prep STEAM Academy?
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy enrolls approximately 579 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Dickson Prep STEAM Academy serve?
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Dickson Prep STEAM Academy?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Dickson Prep STEAM Academy is approximately 11.9:1 (49 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Dickson Prep STEAM Academy?
At Dickson Prep STEAM Academy, the student body is approximately 19% White, 9% Hispanic, 63% Black, 1% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Who oversees Dickson Prep STEAM Academy?
Dickson Prep STEAM Academy is overseen by Woodland Hills SD in Allegheny County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.