November 13, 2014

Students and staff in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District recently received another reason to be proud: A ranking organization identified the district as No. 15 in the nation – out of more than 13,000 public school districts.

UCFSD Superintendent John Sanville said he was pleasantly surprised when he heard last week from a resident that Niche.com had listed the district in its top 100 and given it an A+ overall grade. The district was also listed at No. 3 in the Philadelphia region, behind Tredyffrin-Easttown, which received a No. 3 ranking nationwide, and Lower Merion, which came in at No. 4 in the country.

“Though there is more to UCFSD than high rankings, we are honored to be considered one of the best school districts in the United States,” said Sanville. “This is a unique rating because it takes into account more than just test scores and reinforces what we know to be true — that our children excel on the stage, in serving our community, on athletic fields, and in our classrooms.”

Founded in 2002 by Carnegie Mellon University students as CollegeProwler.com, Niche.com has grown into one of the largest content startups in the country, evaluating neighborhoods, colleges, and schools, according to its web site. The analysis of public school district includes activities, sports, facilities, and overall student and parent satisfaction as well as test scores, according to the company’s web site.

The analysis involved dozens of key statistics and 4.6 million opinions from 280,000 students and parents. A high ranking indicates that a school district contains great schools with exceptional teachers, sufficient resources, and a diverse set of high-achieving students who rate their experiences – including academics, teachers, health, safety, resources, facilities, and extracurricular options very highly.

According to Niche, statistics were obtained from the U.S. Department of Education, using the most recent data – self-reported by districts – available, usually from 2011-2012.

The 13,402 school districts were analyzed using a publicized, weighted rating system: 9,299 had sufficient data to receive a grade, with 8,738 of those also receiving a numerical ranking. The top-ranked school district was Edgemont Union Free School District in New York.

In addition to the rankings, school districts also received letter grades to provide some context to the rankings and also to provide insight into districts that did not make the top district list, the web site said. In many cases, the differences between the ranked districts were slight.

The breakdown for the Unionville ranking was an A+ for academics; A+ for health and safety; A+ for teachers; A+ for resources and facilities; A for sports and fitness; B- for student culture and diversity; and a 4.2 out of 5 for 25 student/parent surveys.

Other A+ area districts were the West Chester Area School District, rated No. 16 in the Philadelphia region and No. 23 in the state; and Garnet Valley, rated No. 18 regionally and No. 25 in the state. The Kennett Consolidated School District, which received an overall grade of A, was ranked No. 31 in the Philadelphia region and No. 42 in the state.

According to Sanville, other recent accolades for the Unionville-Chadds Ford district include Hillendale Elementary’s selection as the No. 1 elementary school the last two years by SchoolDigger; UCFSD’s No. 1 rating among Pennsylvania school districts by the Pittsburgh Business Times; Unionville High’s recognition as No. 1 in the state by the Daily Beast, which also gave the school a No. 66 rating in the nation; U.S. News and World Report’s gold rating for the high school, placing it in the top 1.6 percent of schools in the country; the Washington Post’s determination that the high school is “one of the most challenging schools” in the U.S.; and Unionville High’s recent list of 39 National Merit qualifiers, a school record.

For more information on the Niche.com rankings, visit https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/best-overall/.