New Pittsburgh-Area Middle School Rankings: See How Moon Fared

PITTSBURGH, PA — Boyce Middle School in Upper St. Clair is the best public middle school in Pennsylvania, according to a new ranking from U.S. News & World Report.

U.S. News researchers based the 2025 ranking of the nation’s best public middle schools on publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Education. The researchers analyzed 59,128 middle schools for the report.

U.S. News also recently released a list of the top elementary schools in Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh.

These are the top 20 public middle schools in the Pittsburgh area. Their state rankings are listed parenthetically.

1. Boyce, Upper St. Clair School District (2)

2. Fort Couch, Upper St. Clair School District (7)

3. Peters Township, Peters Township School District (10)

4. Dorseyville, Fox Chapel Area School District (13)

5. South Fayette, South Fayette School District (14)

6. Jefferson. Mt. Lebanon School District (16)

7. Mellon, Mt. Lebanon School District (18)

8. Quaker Valley, Quaker Valley School District (20)

9. Marshall, North Allegheny School District (21)

10. Ingomar, North Allegheny School District (25)

11. Hampton, Hampton School District (31)

12. West Allegheny, West Allegheny School District (35)

13. Neil Armstrong, Bethel Park (36)

14. Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12, Pittsburgh Public Schools (38)

15. Avonworth, Avonworth School District (50)

16. Pittsburgh Colfax, Pittsburgh Public Schools (51)

17. Moon Area, Moon Area School District (70)

18. Carson, North Allegheny School District (71)

19. Haine, Seneca Valley School District (73)

20. Pine-Richland, Pine-Richland School District (89)

The methodology for the rankings focused on state assessments of students who were proficient or above proficient in math and reading/language arts, while also accounting for students’ background and their achievements in core subjects. Student-teacher ratios were applied to break ties.

The rankings are intended as an evaluation tool to give parents a snapshot of how well schools provide a high-quality education and prepare students for a successful future, LaMont Jones, managing editor for Education at U.S. News, said in a news release.