Independence Middle School

I was surprised to see this district listed among the top 10 in the nation for housing $. The only justification for this is that housing in the Pittsburgh area is so cheap. It also shows how bad a measure test scores are for determining the quality of a school, especially the PSSA which is only given in PA. We moved here from Palatine IL, where the middle school was rated a 6 by GreatSchools and found the quality of the education DRASTICALLY lower. Communication with parents is terrible. Questions to the teachers regarding homework are answered with "check edline" or "check the homework hotline" neither of which is updated regularly enough to be helpful. In an effort to minimize cheating, homework and tests are seldom returned, giving parents nothing to gage their children's progress except the scores reported on edline. Reliance on individual worksheets instead of text books for math, science, and language courses makes parental involvement difficult. Teacher quality varies. Some are very good, others not. The tradition of a teacher strike every time the contracts come up for renewal is a huge problem.
--Submitted by a parent

I've sent two children through this school... I would rate the building very good since we taxpayers spend so much money on it.. but the teachers are extremely overpaid and go on strike every 4 or 5 years. The are going on strike in a couple days again... 80+ percent of them are making over $94,000 a year while the average household income in Bethel Park is about $53,000! My daughter was a straight A student and the one time she asked the teacher to help her after school he said your parents would have to pay hime $100 per hour. I rate the teachers very low.
--Submitted by a parent