Highlands El Sch

Highlands El Sch is one of the middle-of-the-pack primary schools in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, operated by Highlands SD, with 559 students on its rolls from grades 1 through 4. That puts it 26% larger than the typical public school in Pennsylvania, which averages around 443 students.

Highlands SD comprises 4 schools with combined enrollment of 2,004 students; Highlands El Sch is among them.

In terms of who attends, Highlands El Sch shows that White students make up the majority at 66%. Other groups include 16% multiracial, 13% Black, 4% Hispanic. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 76%.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Highlands El Sch has 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 12.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 105% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Allegheny County runs at roughly 54%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Highlands El Sch performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 32.7%, the actual is 47.7%, a residual of +15.0 points.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Allegheny County shows median household earnings sit near $78,548, roughly 46% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Allegheny County's 277 public schools (combined enrollment of about 141,392 students), Highlands El Sch is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Highlands Early Childhood Center, around 1.0 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Highlands El Sch at 1st of 5; the average score across the group is 30.5%.

Geographically, the school is in a suburban area.

Five-year trend. Highlands El Sch's enrollment has decreased 12% since 2018, when it stood at 636 (now 559). Over the same period, the White share edged down from 79% to 66%. Class-load math has narrowed: from 15.0:1 in 2018 to 12.9:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, the feed for Highlands El Sch typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.