Taylor Allderdice High School

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Taylor Allderdice High School
Address
2409 Shady Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA, 15217, United States United States
Coordinates 40°25′46″N 79°55′10″W / 40.429514°N 79.919379°W / 40.429514; -79.919379
Information
Enrollment 1,351 as of October 2010
Color(s) Green and White[1]
Mascot Dragon[1]
Representative William Isler, District 4
Website Taylor Allderdice High School

Taylor Allderdice High School, also referred to by the Pittsburgh Public Schools as “Pittsburgh Allderdice” or informally by students as "Dice",[2] is a public high school located in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh’s East End. Allderdice is the "largest of the Pittsburgh Public Schools' ten urban high schools",[3] as measured by student population. It is also one of the better-performing schools in the district; It was awarded a Silver Medal by the U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools 2009 Search.[4]

The school was opened in 1927. It was named for the noted industrialist and Squirrel Hill resident Taylor Allderdice, who was at the time a member of the city's school board and president of the National Tube Company, a then subsidiary of the U.S. Steel Corporation.[5]

Contents

[edit] Feeder district

Its feeder district includes all or parts of South Oakland, East Hills, Homewood, Hazelwood, Greenfield, Hays, New Homestead, Lincoln Place, Point Breeze, Regent Square, Park Place, Squirrel Hill, and Swisshelm Park. Students from other neighborhoods within the City of Pittsburgh and the borough of Mt. Oliver may also attend Allderdice through the pre-engineering magnet program, the Chinese magnet program, as Allderdice is the only Pittsburgh Public School to offer Chinese, or under the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.

[edit] Recognition

The high school ranks 40th of 123 high school in western Pennsylvania for academic achievement based on three years of PSSA results on: math, reading, writing and one year of science, by the Pittsburgh Business Times in May 2009.[6]

The school has been consistently recognized as one of the best urban public high schools in America. During the 1994-96 school years, Taylor Allderdice High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education,[7] the highest award an American school can receive.[8][9]

In 2005, Taylor Allderdice was ranked as tied for 1,062nd place in Newsweek's ranking of America's top high schools,[10] in 2006 it was ranked 1,036th,[11] and in 2007 it earned the rank of 1,183, the 18th-highest ranked school in Pennsylvania.[12][13]

In 2005, the school was ranked as 148th of 601 high schools in Pennsylvania.[14]

[edit] Current student body

As of 1 January 2011[15]

Subset Number of students Percent
All 1,334 100%
White 711 53.30%
African American 492 36.88%
Asian 54 4.05%
Hispanic 24 1.80%
Multiracial 50 3.75%
American Indian 3 0.22%
Male 695 52.10%
Female 639 47.90%

[edit] The Foreword

The Foreword is the school's student newspaper and publishes a new edition every five to six weeks of the school year. The Foreword is supported solely by ad sales and is distributed free of charge to all students as well as to faculty, parents, and members of the local Pittsburgh community. The paper's namesake is a play on words of Forward Avenue, the street that runs along the building's eastern side.

Established in 1927 as a three column wide, subscription newspaper, The Foreword has been a landmark of the high school for more than 84 years and the newspaper of today continues the legacy set forth by those first issues.

TheForeword.com was launched in 2011 as the official website of the newspaper.

[edit] Alma mater

The traditional singing of the Allderdice alma mater was returned to Taylor Allderice by the decree of Principal Cassandra Richardson Kemp in 2006.

This practice was discontinued by Principal Melissa Friez in 2010.

[edit] Notable alumni

Name Graduating class Occupation
Gene Forrell Composer and conductor[16]
Nathaniel Philbrick Author[17]
Marty Allen 1940 Stand-up comedian and dramatic actor
Myron Cope 1947 Late Pittsburgh Steelers radio announcer and sports commentator, second cousin of Greg Schaffer[18]
Edgar Snyder 1959 Lawyer and Pittsburgh personality
Sara Alpern 1960 Professor of women's history at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas
Bob O'Connor 1962 Former Pittsburgh politician and mayor[19]
Harvey V. Fineberg 1963 7th President of Institute of Medicine, former Provost of Harvard
Larry Lucchino 1963 President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and the San Diego Padres[20]
Howard Fineman 1966 Senior Politics Editor, Huffington Post
Richard Pacheco (AKA Howie Gordon) 1966 Pornographic film & video actor, writer, and director
Evan Wolfson 1974 Civil rights attorney[21]
Gary Graff 1978 Music journalist[22]
Maxine Lapiduss 1978 Comedienne and actress
Rob Marshall 1978 Theater and film director[23][24]
Kathleen Marshall 1980 Choreographer, theater and film director[24]
Antoine Fuqua 1983 Movie director[23]
Jimmy McGuire 1984 Member, Jeopardy! Clue Crew
Jesse Michaels 1987 Singer with Operation Ivy and Common Rider
Billy Porter 1987 Broadway performer and pop vocalist
William Herndon[disambiguation needed ] 1988 UMass-Amherst Men's Basketball forward
Curtis Martin 1991 New York Jets running back[25]
Pittsburgh Slim 1997 Hip hop artist
Wiz Khalifa 2006 Hip hop artist[26]
Mac Miller 2010 Hip hop artist

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Allderdice High School" (PDF). Pittsburgh Public Schools. http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/143110821104152670/lib/143110821104152670/2009%20Handbooks/AllderdiceHS.pdf?1432Nav=%7C&NodeID=5077. Retrieved 2009-11-19. 
  2. ^ Smydo, Joe (2007), "Pittsburgh schools drop 'public' from name to boost image", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07192/800808-298.stm, retrieved 2011-03-01 
  3. ^ Welcome to Pittsburgh Allderdice High School, http://pps.schoolwires.com/allderdice/site/default.asp, retrieved 2011-03-01 
  4. ^ "Best High Schools Search", U.S.News & World Report, http://www.usnews.com/directories/high-schools/index_html/state_id+PA/page_number+1/page_size+10/sort+alpha/name+/award+2/school_name+/county+/detail+less, retrieved 2011-03-01 
  5. ^ Lee, Carmen J. (1998), "Best High Schools Search", Pittsburgh Post Gazette: A–13, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19980316&id=TN8NAAAAIBAJ&sjid=u28DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6165,5293362, retrieved 2011-03-01 
  6. ^ Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools - 11th grade Rankings, Pittsburgh Business Times, May 15, 2009
  7. ^ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), accessed May 11, 2006
  8. ^ CIBA cited as one of the best by Education Department, Journal Inquirer, November 16, 2006. "The Blue Ribbon award is given only to schools that reach the top 10 percent of their state's testing scores over several years or show significant gains in student achievement. It is considered the highest honor a school can achieve."
  9. ^ Viers Mill School Wins Blue Ribbon; School Scored High on Statewide Test; The Washington Post. September 29, 2005 "For their accomplishments, all three schools this month earned the status of Blue Ribbon School, the highest honor the U.S. Education Department can bestow upon a school."
  10. ^ Kantrowitz, Barbara; Julie Scelfo and William Lee Adams (2005-05-16). "The 100 Best High Schools in America". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2006-09-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20060928184023/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8759025/site/newsweek/page/11/. Retrieved 2006-11-22. 
  11. ^ Kantrowitz, Barbara; Pat Wingert (2006-05-08). "What Makes a High School Great?". Newsweek. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12532678/site/newsweek/?s=1100&np=12&sort=raa. Retrieved 2006-11-22. [dead link]
  12. ^ "The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. schools", Newsweek, May 28, 2007. Accessed June 4, 2007.
  13. ^ Chute, Eleanor (2007-05-24). "7 high schools ranked among best in U.S.". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07144/788718-100.stm. Retrieved 2007-05-24. 
  14. ^ "Allderdice High School, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania / PA school information". School Digger Website. http://www.schooldigger.com/go/PA/schools/1917000409/school.aspx. Retrieved 2005-01-05. 
  15. ^ "Pittsburgh Allderdice High School General Information". Pittsburgh Public Schools Web Site. http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/14322092422242263/site/default.asp. Retrieved 2011-01-21. 
  16. ^ Monica L. Haynes (2005-09-28). "Obituary: Gene Forrell / Award-winning composer and conductor". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05271/578843.stm. Retrieved 2006-11-25. 
  17. ^ Authors, chef highlight Drue Heinz lecture series, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 25 April 2007
  18. ^ Collins, Mark (September 1996). "Everything is Cope-aesthetic". Pitt Magazine ([University of Pittsburgh]). http://www.univ-relations.pitt.edu/pittmag/sep96/copeh.html. Retrieved 2006-11-25. 
  19. ^ Lord, Rich (2006-09-02). "Obituary: Mayor Robert E. O'Connor / His enthusiasm for city was unbounded". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06245/718570-53.stm. Retrieved 2006-11-27. 
  20. ^ Donoho, Ron (June 1999). "Lucchino!". San Diego Magazine. Archived from the original on 2002-09-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20020910100216/http://www.sandiego-online.com/issues/june99/lucchino.shtml. Retrieved 2006-11-27. 
  21. ^ Rotstein, Gary (2004-04-22). "Gay marriage advocate says Time's honor good for cause". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04113/304529.stm. Retrieved 2006-11-27. 
  22. ^ Cf. http://www.rockcritics.com/interview/garygraff.html. Retrieved on December 12, 2006
  23. ^ a b Weiskind, Ron (2003-11-22). "Goldmann driven daffy by Looney Tunes film". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.postgazette.com/movies/20031122goldmann1122fnp4.asp. Retrieved 2006-11-25. 
  24. ^ a b Rawson, Christopher (1994-03-06). "Broadway follows in their footsteps". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/magazine/19940306rawson.asp. Retrieved 2006-11-27. 
  25. ^ Finder, Chuck (2005-01-14). "AFC Playoffs / The Jets: Curtis Martin a football star by accident". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05014/441889.stm. Retrieved 2006-11-27. 
  26. ^ Roberts, Josie (2005-06-28). "The hip-hop pulse". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_348314.html. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 

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