West Chester Area School District

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The West Chester Area School District covers a 75 square-mile basis, for the area of West Chester, PA. The borough of West Chester is the center of the district. The other parts include the surrounding townships of East Bradford, East Goshen, West Goshen, West Whiteland, Westtown, and Thornbury, all in Chester County, are part of the district, as is Thornbury Township in adjacent Delaware County. The WCASD consists of 10 Elementary Schools, 3 Middle Schools, and 3 High Schools (as of the fall 2006 school year) Elementary schools go from grades 1-5, middle schools go from grades 6-8, and high schools go from grades 9-12.

1 Mission Statement
2 About the West Chester Area School District
3 Recent Awards and Recognition
4 Elementary schools
5 Middle schools
6 High schools
7 External links

[edit] Mission Statement

The mission of the West Chester Area School District, a diverse community rich in heritage, is to educate all students to achieve their personal best, be responsible, contributing citizens and become life-long learners by inspiring each student through challenging curriculum, varied opportunities, effective teaching, respect for diversity, nurturing and caring staff, and involved families and community.^[1]

[edit] About the West Chester Area School District

For the 2006-2007 school year, the district has a $176.4 million budget. Almost 12,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade attend schools in the WCASD. The class size average is 25 students. Over 900 are employed by the WCASD, 64% of whom hold a Master's Degree.

[edit] Recent Awards and Recognition

West Chester Is Rated Among Top 17% of School Districts Nationally

For the third consecutive year, the West Chester Area School District has received the top rating of “Gold Medal District” by Expansion Management Magazine in its annual Education Quotient™ issue.

This year's rating places the school district among the top 17% of all public secondary school districts in the United States with an enrollment of at least 3,300 students. Those districts - totaling 3,819 and serving a population of more than 35 million students - were included in an extensive study conducted by the magazine.

The majority of Expansion Management readers are CEOs of small to mid-sized manufacturing companies, according to the magazine's website.

"Many of these same business executives are actively engaged in the process of comparing locations around the country in order to determine the best location for a future manufacturing (or distribution center, call center, back office, etc.) facility," the website goes on to say. "These ratings provide them with an important tool to evaluate the high school graduate work force in those prospective communities."

The Education Quotient™, or EQ, is calculated on a weighted scale that measures results in three major categories. The most important component, or category, is defined as the Graduate Outcome Index, which uses College Board scores and graduation rates to compare a district's educational efforts with other districts nationwide. College Board scores are used because they represent a common test that high school students around the country take. Graduation rates are calculated by comparing the number of students in the fall semester of their junior year with the number of students who graduate the next year.

A second Resource Index measures a community's financial commitment to public education, including such things as per-pupil expenditures, student-teacher ratios, and beginning and average salaries for teachers.

The final category is the Community Index, which accounts for only 5% of the overall EQ score. This category includes the percentage of the adult population in the district with at least a high school degree, the percentage of the adult population with at least a college degree, the average household income in the district, and the district's childhood poverty level.

The final EQ rankings are converted into percentiles, with the top 17% awarded gold medals.

2006 Schools of Excellence in Technology ^[2]