The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Science. The lowest is 45% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Highlands El Sch
Highlands Elementary School serves grades one through four in Tarentum, a small riverfront borough about twenty miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The school sits within the residential street grid on East 9th Avenue, embedded in the community rather than on a separate campus; its older peers in the district attend middle and high schools in suburban Natrona Heights, about a short drive away.
The school enrolls a small student body drawn almost entirely from the surrounding area. All students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the racial composition is predominantly white, with a meaningful share of multiracial students and smaller populations of Black and Hispanic children. The enrollment includes very few students recorded as Asian or Native American. Special-population data, including the share of students with IEPs or identified as English learners, was not available in the records provided.
In state testing on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, the school's performance is mixed across subjects. In science, the most recent available results show proficiency well above the midpoint of district performance in Allegheny County. In math and English language arts—both tested in the most recent school year—proficiency hovers just below the midpoint, with less than half the student body meeting the state's proficiency threshold in each subject. When proficiency across all tested grades and subjects is averaged together, the school sits above the midpoint among county district elementary schools, a positioning that reflects the strength in science offsetting weaker results in literacy and numeracy.
No trend data was available to show whether these results are improving, stable, or declining. No data on school attendance, chronic absenteeism, or discipline was provided. Information on staffing, course offerings beyond core academics, and extended support services was also absent from the records.
The school is part of Highlands School District, a small district serving communities around the Alle-Kiski Valley. The district has held its property tax rate flat for multiple consecutive years, a meaningful signal of stability for families weighing moves. In 2023 the district completed a sizable capital improvement program touching all campuses, including major work on the high school; those decisions will shape the condition of facilities for years. The district's credit rating was upgraded recently after a period of fiscal rebuilding, a change that reflects structural improvements in budget management.
Tarentum itself is in a managed revitalization phase after decades of industrial decline. The riverfront park anchors civic life, with recreational fields, spray areas, and a concert series. A downtown commercial corridor centered on East Fourth Avenue is showing signs of revival through façade improvements and tenant reoccupancy in the renovated Murphy Building. Housing values in the zip code have risen modestly from a low base. The neighborhood remains working-class, with retail trade, health care, and manufacturing as primary employment sectors for residents. Bus transit to Pittsburgh and a public library branch serve the borough. A parent may want to reach out to the school about what supports are available for students whose testing results fall below proficiency and what academic enrichment looks like for those performing at or above grade level.
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