Pittsburgh Allderdice High School

Substantially pleased with the support my son receives via the "team lead" teacher approach. It certainly facilitates communication between us and the teaching staff, and we have a better picture of his efforts as a student. The student body is diverse, and the atmosphere of the school is generally stable and pleasant.

Sending a child from a small private elementary school to Allderdice for high school was a scary option. My child will be entering 11th grade, we looked at four other private schools and three other public schools in the city and are thrilled that we made the decision to go to Allderdice. The CAS "gifted" program is challenging and rigorous. The first 6 months in 9th grade are tough because they pile on homework, projects and tests. However, once your child gets used to the routine, they figure out how to best study and it gets easier and my child is very happy there. I like the fact that there are several projects in the first year and that they focus both on academic and service achievements. The service projects that the 9th grade class presented are pretty amazing. Yes as other reviews have mentioned it’s an old building but not everything in life is pristine. If you want a nice clean building with modern facilities then chose private school. I would prefer that my child has real life experiences while living at home rather than have them for the first time at college. I like the fact that there is a lot of diversity, many extracurricular activities and a great sense of school pride. Like any other school there are excellent teachers and teachers that are only fair. The school counselor's work with your child to develop an individual educational plan. Everything that you need for a good education is there but it is up to the child to seek it out. This school will teach your child to be an independent learner and adult. If you are a motivated student it will take you where you want to go. If you are not motivated then there are a lot of distractions.

This school offers many different types of curriculum, a large variety of extracurricular activites. For advanced students curriculum is really good. Special needs students not so good. The building itself rather dismal and dark. First floor during class change is rather scary. Lots and lots of cursing, screaming and unruly teens. If you are a parent and need to visit building, get a bell schedule to avoid complete chaos at class change. From what I hear Allderdice is a paradise compared to other high schools within the district. For the most part it is what it is, not the greatest, not the worst.

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