Gateway High School (Pennsylvania)

Graduation rate

In 2010, the Pennsylvania Department of Education issued a new, 4 year cohort graduation rate. Gateway School District's rate was 82% for 2010.

According to traditional graduation rate calculations:

Academic achievement

In 2010, the high school is in Making Progress: in School Improvement II due to low student academic achievement. In 2009, the high school was in School Improvement II AYP level.

In 2011, Gateway High School was ranked 33rd out of 122 western Pennsylvania high schools for student academic achievement by the Pittsburgh Business Times.

College Remediation

According to a Pennsylvania Department of Education study released in January 2009, 28% of Gateway School District graduates required remediation in mathematics and reading before they were prepared to take college level courses in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education or community colleges. Less than 66% of Pennsylvania high school graduates who enroll in a four-year college in Pennsylvania will earn a bachelor's degree within six years. Among Pennsylvania high school graduates pursuing an associate degree, only one in three graduate in three years. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Education, one in three recent high school graduates who attend Pennsylvania's public universities and community colleges takes at least one remedial course in math, reading or English.

Dual enrollment

The high school offers a Dual Enrollment program. This state program permits high school students to take courses, at local higher education institutions, to earn college credits. Students remain enrolled at their high school. The courses count towards high school graduation requirements and towards earning a college degree. The students continue to have full access to activities and programs at their high school. The college credits are offered at a deeply discounted rate. The state offers a small grant to assist students in costs for tuition, fees and books. Under the Pennsylvania Transfer and Articulation Agreement, many Pennsylvania colleges and universities accept these credits for students who transfer to their institutions. The Pennsylvania College Credit Transfer System reported in 2009, that students saved nearly $35.4 million by having their transferred credits count towards a degree under the new system.

For the 2009-10 funding year, the school district received a state grant of $33,833 for the program.

Graduation Requirements

The Gateway School District School Board has determined that a student must earn 23 credits to graduate including: English 4 credits, Social Studies 3 credits, Science 3 credits, Mathematics 3 credits, Information Technology 0.5 credit, Arts/Humanities 2 credits, Health 0.5 credit, Physical Education 1 credit and Electives 6 credits.

By law, all Pennsylvania secondary school students must complete a project as a part of their eligibility to graduate from high school. The type of project, its rigor and its expectations are set by the individual school district.

By Pennsylvania School Board regulations, for the graduating classes 2019, students must demonstrate successful completion of secondary level course work in Algebra I, Biology, English Composition, and Literature for which the Keystone Exams serve as the final course exams. Students’ Keystone Exam scores shall count for at least one-third of the final course grade.

Voluntary Community Service

The Social Studies Department manages a community service program. Active student volunteers earn extra credit points in their Social Studies class and end of year awards. The program operates throughout the school year and over the summer months. It offers a concentrated leadership-training program during four weeks in the summer and volunteering efforts are conducted year round.

Extracurriculars

The district offers a variety of clubs, activities and sports. Eligibility for participation is set by school board policy and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

By Pennsylvania law, all K-12 students in the district, including those who attend a private nonpublic school, cyber charter school, charter school and those homeschooled, are eligible to participate in the extracurricular programs including all athletics. They must meet the same eligibility rules as the students enrolled in the district's schools.

Athletics

The school has a variety of athletic opportunities in which the students can get involved.

The mascot of the school district is the Gateway Gator, a stylized alligator.

The Athletic Director is Mr. Randy Rovesti.

Clubs

Gateway High School offers many clubs for its students to join.

Gateway's Student Councils and Student Governments play a large role in student life. They are in charge of all school dances, fund-raisers, school spirit activities, and also attend and host various leadership workshops and conferences through the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils.

Gateway's Interact Club also has a prominent role in organizing large student events, including benefit concerts for Amnesty International and other various charity causes.

Gateway also competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition, an annual event for high-school aged participants. Gateway's team, Quasics, is FRC Team #2656. They have competed annually at the Pittsburgh Regional since 2008. They also started team #5526 in FIRST Tech Challenge in 2011, and teams #9656A and #9656B in VEX Robotics in 2013. Visits Us at http://quasics.org

Gateway has an active Ultimate Frisbee Team club which competes as a member of the Pittsburgh High School Ultimate League. They won the league's division II championship in 2013. The team is entirely student run and coached.

Gateway's band department is also well known throughout the western Pennsylvania region. The Gateway Senior High School Marking Band has been a consistent finalist in the Bands of America regional competitions since 2004, and a Grand National Championship participant in 2004 and 2008. The Gateway Winterguard and Winter Drumline have also competed at local, regional and national (Winterguard Only) levels in the Scholastic A class and Scholastic Marchin A class, respectively

Notable Alumni

Notable Faculty