The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in Science. The lowest is 26% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Turtle Creek El Steam Academy
Turtle Creek Elementary STEAM Academy is a public elementary school serving grades PreK through 5 in Turtle Creek, a small, dense former mill borough about 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The school sits directly across the street from Turtle Creek's municipal building on Monroeville Avenue, making it a civic anchor in a community that has transitioned from heavy industry to a working-class residential area.
The school's enrollment is modest for an elementary school serving its grade band, with students distributed fairly evenly across the grades. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic reality of Turtle Creek and the broader post-Westinghouse region. The student body is racially diverse, with a Black plurality, a White minority, and smaller numbers of students from other backgrounds.
In state testing, the school's math and English language arts results are low. Slightly less than a third of students in grades 3 through 5 met proficiency in math; on English language arts, the proportion was similar. In science, tested only in 2022-23 at the school, results were substantially stronger, with about seven in ten students at proficiency. Science was the sole tested subject where the school's performance came in above the midpoint among Allegheny County districts. Across all tested subjects, the school's overall proficiency index fell below the midpoint among county schools.
The school is part of Woodland Hills School District, a county district formed in 1971 through a court-ordered merger of five former districts, including Turtle Creek's. Woodland Hills serves twelve municipalities and operates three elementary STEAM Academies—Turtle Creek, Edgewood, and Wilkins—plus a middle school and high school. A significant district-level change now affecting the school is the rollout of a comprehensive K-12 robotics curriculum, integrated with VEX Robotics, that began in 2022-23 and is embedded into daily instruction at every grade. This is one of the only K-12 robotics curricula in the state, making it a durable pedagogical distinction across the district's schools.
The district also reduced its property tax millage rate in 2023 and sustained that reduction into 2024-25, dropping from the fourth-highest-taxed district in Allegheny County to the 17th out of 43 districts—a material shift in the tax burden families weigh when deciding where to live. Edgewood Elementary STEAM Academy is undergoing substantial renovation, but the timeline for Turtle Creek's building condition was not available.
The housing market in Turtle Creek reflects the borough's economic trajectory. Home values in the zip code are below both state and national benchmarks. Rental costs are modest relative to regional income, and the vacancy rate in the borough is notably high, a legacy of the post-2008 foreclosure wave and decades of post-industrial decline. The industrial footprint is slowly shifting; the former Westinghouse Electric complex has been redeveloped as Keystone Commons, an industrial park now housing multiple advanced-manufacturing and energy companies.
Parents considering the school should look into current achievement trends in math and English language arts, since the proficiency levels are measurably below county norms. At the same time, the school sits within a district that has made explicit strategic moves—the robotics curriculum, the tax relief, and ongoing facility upgrades—to stabilize and attract families. For parents in Turtle Creek, this school offers a STEAM-focused identity, neighborhood accessibility, and a working-class community environment in a town with limited other options.
See more original research from School Decision →