North Allegheny 7th best school in national ranking, moves up 2 spots

North Allegheny School District made the top 10 list for the best schools in the country for the second consecutive year in the Niche K-12 National Rankings, which was originally known as College Prowler.

The distinction of best district belongs to the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District in suburban Philadelphia, according the national ranking service.

Niche's 2016 national survey ranked the district as the seventh best in America — up from ninth best last year.

“While North Allegheny consistently ranks highly on other national and state evaluations, the Niche rankings are unique in their assessment of the full North Allegheny experience,” said Robert Scherrer, the district's substitute superintendent.

“We are especially proud of this ranking because it looks beyond test scores and takes into account hundreds of reviews collected from our students and parents,” Scherrer said.

Niche's annual K-12 rankings attempt to provide an assessment of school districts by taking into account factors such as the strength of academics, quality of teachers, school resources, the quality of student life and reviews from students and parents, according to the ranking company.

North Allegheny was the only school district in western Pennsylvania to be ranked in the top 45 list of best school districts in the country. The District also ranked sixth for best sports and seventh for best teachers.

Tony LaRussa is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach him at tlarussa@tribweb.com.