1
What tradition at Pleasant Hills MS should never be changed?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
813
Middle
DISTRICT 700 · STATE 594
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST JEFFERSON HILLS SD·NCES 422559004867
Pleasant Hills Middle School
404 Old Clairton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236 · (412) 655-8680 · Allegheny County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE21-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL813 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 90% of Pennsylvania public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats 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
16.8:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.9:1 · STATE 13.2:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
28%
230 students
DISTRICT 29% · 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 | 270 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 263 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 280 | 34% |
Student demographics
35%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
Pleasant Hills Middle School→Thomas Jefferson High School
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within West Jefferson Hills SD. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
PSSA + Keystone 2024-25 . % Proficient or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
74.5%
PA avg 51.1% . -2.3pp since 2023
Math
58.4%
PA avg 43.0% . +2.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the PSSA + Keystone, Pennsylvania's statewide test, about 75 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 58 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Pennsylvania schools, those numbers are about 51 and 43. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 3 points.
PSSA + Keystone results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 74.5% | 58.4% |
| 2023-24 | 76.8% | 55.8% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
66.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
65.5%
based on PA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+1.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 67% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 65% typical for Pennsylvania schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Pennsylvania's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Pleasant Hills Middle School
Pleasant Hills Middle School's state test result (66.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Hills Middle School this school | 813 | 28.3% | 66.7% |
| Paxon Hollow Middle School Broomall | 868 | 28.8% | 59.9% |
| Palmyra Area Middle School Palmyra | 820 | 30.2% | 64.5% |
| Mount Nittany Middle School State College | 752 | 21.8% | 66.3% |
| Dorseyville Middle School Pittsburgh | 981 | 22.1% | 80.4% |
| Franklin Regional Middle School Murrysville | 771 | 18.8% | 65.8% |
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 Pleasant Hills Middle School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Pennsylvania | In Allegheny County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 66.7% | #56 of 479 | #17 of 47 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 58.4% | #67 of 513 ▲ 1 | #17 of 51 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 74.5% | #46 of 513 ▼ 1 | #14 of 51 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 813 | #114 of 522 | #9 of 51 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #460 of 486 | #45 of 46 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 35.1% | #283 of 486 | #28 of 46 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 28.3% | #421 of 510 | #31 of 51 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +17.8% | #30 of 131 | #4 of 18 |
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
813
+112 (+16%) vs 2020
+37% since 1990-91, when it was 595
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 14.9:1
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 | 813 | 48.5 | 16.8:1 | 28% (230) |
| 2023-24 | 822 | 47.5 | 17.3:1 | 28% (230) |
| 2022-23 | 798 | 48.5 | 16.4:1 | 27% (216) |
| 2020-21 | 701 | 47 | 14.9:1 | 22% (154) |
| 2017-18 | 690 | 46.2 | 14.9:1 | 22% (150) |
| 2015-16 | 683 | 44 | 15.5:1 | 19% (127) |
| 2010-11 | 649 | 37 | 17.5:1 | 12% (78) |
| 2000-01 | 734 | 39 | 18.8:1 | 11% (78) |
| 1990-91 | 595 | 43 | 13.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Pleasant Hills Middle School.
Since 2017-18: students up 18% (690 to 813); teachers up 5% (46.2 to 48.5).
About Pleasant Hills Middle School
Pleasant Hills Middle School is a mid-sized middle-grades school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of the schools in West Jefferson Hills SD. Its enrollment is 813 students, spread over grades 6 through 8. Across middle schools in Pennsylvania, the average enrollment is about 594.
West Jefferson Hills SD is the district for Pleasant Hills Middle School. It has 5 schools and 3,501 students.
More than half of enrollment at Pleasant Hills Middle School is White: 80%. Next come 12% Asian, 3% multiracial, 3% Black, and 3% Hispanic. In Allegheny County overall, the White share is about 76%. The diversity index for Pleasant Hills Middle School is 35%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Pleasant Hills Middle School has 48.5 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 16.8:1. Middle schools in Pennsylvania have an average ratio of 13.2:1. Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, often used to gauge student poverty, is 28%. That rate is below the 54% average among public schools in Allegheny County.
Pleasant Hills Middle School holds an A allk12 Grade, placing it above 90% of Pennsylvania public middle schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 65.5% for Pleasant Hills Middle School. The school posts 66.7%, 1.2 points above the prediction.
In the surrounding county, Allegheny County, the median household earns about $78,548 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 46%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Allegheny County has 277 public schools with about 141,392 students, including Pleasant Hills Middle School.
A public school about 0.4 miles away, McClellan Elementary School, is the closest to Pleasant Hills Middle School. In all, at least 8 other public schools sit within five miles of Pleasant Hills Middle School. On proficiency, Pleasant Hills Middle School is ahead of the 52.2% nearby average, ranking 1st of 4.
Federal records code the school's setting as Suburb: Large.
Federal enrollment counts increased from 701 (2020-21) to 813 (2024-25). Over the same period, the student-to-teacher ratio increased to 16.8:1, from 14.9:1.
You can use this page to share news and ask questions about open houses, carpools, and field trips. You can also rate the school on this page.
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 West Jefferson Hills SD
- Thomas Jefferson High SchoolHigh · 1,041 students
- Jefferson Hills Intermediate SchoolElementary · 856 students
- Gill Hall Elementary SchoolElementary · 424 students
- McClellan Elementary SchoolElementary · 367 students
Other schools in Pittsburgh
- Mt Lebanon SHSHigh · 1,772 students
- Baldwin SHSHigh · 1,657 students
- North Hills High SchoolHigh · 1,443 students
- Pittsburgh Allderdice High SchoolHigh · 1,386 students
- Fox Chapel Area High SchoolHigh · 1,360 students
- Upper Saint Clair High SchoolHigh · 1,269 students
Nearby schools
- McClellan Elementary School0.4 mi · 367
- Steel Center for Career and Technical Education1.4 mi · 3
- Baldwin SHS1.9 mi · 1,657
- McAnnulty Elementary School2.0 mi · 354
- Gill Hall Elementary School2.0 mi · 424
- Whitehall Elementary School2.3 mi · 669
Frequently asked questions
About Pleasant Hills Middle SchoolHow large is Pleasant Hills Middle School?
Pleasant Hills Middle School enrolls approximately 813 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Pleasant Hills Middle School serve?
Pleasant Hills Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Pleasant Hills Middle School?
Approximately 16.8:1 students per teacher at Pleasant Hills Middle School.
How diverse is Pleasant Hills Middle School?
Pleasant Hills Middle School reports a student body of 80% White, 3% Hispanic, 3% Black, 12% Asian, 3% Two or more.
Is Pleasant Hills Middle School public or private?
Pleasant Hills Middle School is a public K-12 school, overseen by West Jefferson Hills SD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.