McBride
Beaver Falls, PA 15010

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Beaver Falls is a great school when it comes to serving underprivileged students. Not many other similar schools offer the things they do (6 APs, outstanding music/theater program, mentoring and volunteer clubs, etc.). Beaver Falls has sent students to Georgetown, Tufts, Pitt, Penn State Main, UMichigan, and Syracuse. Now, I want to criticize these GreatSchools "Ratings." The percentage of students going on to college is NO indication of how well that school preps students for college. Just because most families here can't pay for college without much assistance and don't send their children off to college for that reason, DOESN'T mean that Beaver Falls is "bad" at college prep. Tell that to at least four of my friends who have gone on to make the Dean's List at their colleges. The same thing goes for AP participation - participation in AP courses DOES NOT EQUAL PREPARATION for college-level coursework. I had 6 people in each of my AP classes, and I was part of the 10% of test=takers nationwide to score a 5 on both AP English and APUSH. Again, most of these kids don't have solid future plans because of their financial situations. However, if you were to have a plan, your teachers and administrators would help you. The guidance counselors were great, unlike at a lot of big schools. All these school ranking websites do is further segregation.

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central has very kind and attentive teachers, always willing to help the children and take time to talk to the parents. my grand daughter loves it there.