Derry Area elementary gets 2nd annual nod for top student achievement, growth

Derry Area School District’s Grandview Elementary School, for the second year in a row, scored top points with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Division of Federal Programs.

Officials recently named Grandview among 94 Distinguished Title I schools in Pennsylvania for 2019, an honor the school also received in 2018.

According to Kris Higgs, the district’s director of elementary education, Grandview earned the repeat designation based on testing of student achievement and academic growth, which placed it over four consecutive years among the top 5% of all schools in the state that receive federal Title I funding.

Pennsylvania’s goal is for students to demonstrate at least one year’s worth of growth during a given school year, Higgs explained, noting, “We far exceeded the projections. We were able to move our kids ahead more than one year’s worth of growth.”

Several other area schools also received Distinguished Title I recognition at the Jan. 27 Title I Improving Schools Performance Conference in Pittsburgh, including: Metzgar Elementary School in the Greensburg Salem School District; Sheridan Terrace Elementary School in Norwin; Kerr Elementary in Fox Chapel Area; Whitehall Elementary School in Baldwin-Whitehall; Pittsburgh Arsenal 6-8, Pittsburgh Grandview K-5 and Pittsburgh Westwood K-5; Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship; Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School; and Young Scholars of McKeesport Charter School.

Aligned with the free and reduced-price school lunch program, Title I funding is provided to schools with a population that has a high economic need, Higgs explained.

At Grandview, she said, Title I program teachers work with small groups of students, providing extra academic support to those who need it.

The program isn’t intended solely for struggling pupils. “It could be a child who is strong academically but is stuck on one skill and needs a little bit of extra help,” Higgs said.