The top reported proficiency rate is 56% in English language arts. The lowest is 43% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Deer Lakes Ms
Deer Lakes MS is a middle school serving grades six through eight in Cheswick, a small residential borough northeast of Pittsburgh. The school serves a student body that is overwhelmingly white, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a mixed-income suburban student population in the Allegheny Valley.
On state assessments in language arts, the school reaches proficiency at a rate somewhat above half of tested students. Mathematics proficiency runs lower, with fewer than half of students meeting the state standard. Science proficiency, measured most recently, sits in the mid-range. Across all tested subjects, the school's overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint among Allegheny County districts, a positioning that a parent may want to look into further with the school.
The school sits within Deer Lakes School District, which covers three small townships in the Allegheny Valley. The district has made two parent-relevant moves in recent years. It has adopted a one-to-one student device program, meaning each student from kindergarten through twelfth grade has a personal learning device, and the district is among the first Google Certified school systems in Pennsylvania. At the same time, the district expanded mental health staffing by adding a Behavioral Specialist and an additional Mental Health Therapist, signaling a sustained investment in student support services beyond academics. These are concrete pedagogy and services shifts a family evaluating the district would weigh.
The district also approved a property tax increase for the 2024-25 budget after a nine-year stretch without one, ending a long pause in tax growth. For a home in the district's townships, the annual school tax bill rose accordingly, a durable cost-of-living change families considering a move to East Deer, Frazer, or West Deer would encounter.
Cheswick itself is a quiet, tree-lined borough of detached houses along the Allegheny River, about a short drive northeast of Pittsburgh. It is locally walkable, with sidewalks and a commercial spine along Pittsburgh Street, though the main commercial strip is utilitarian rather than a destination downtown. The borough has no large corporate employers; for decades it was anchored by the Cheswick Generating Station, a coal plant that closed in early 2022 and has since been demolished. The site is now earmarked for a large data center campus, with construction expected to begin in 2027. Housing values in the zip code are stable and modest, with home prices and rents affordable relative to state and national benchmarks. The local housing market has modest inventory and moderate demand.
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