Low Achievers in Pittsburgh Schools Knuckle Down

By Timothy Puko; Karen Roebuck

Students in Woodland Hills School District will be spending a lot more time in class this year: There will be no field trips and no assemblies.

Woodland Hills this year joined Pittsburgh and Duquesne schools when it entered “Corrective Action 2,” the lowest of six classifications under the federal No Child Left Behind act. That means a lot more intervention from the state, and district officials said they are embracing reforms.

“Nothing will interrupt or distract students or teachers from class time,” spokeswoman Maria McCool said.

There are 12 schools around Allegheny County, including McKeesport Area, Penn Hills and Shaler Area high schools, in the same status. That number grew from seven last year.

Schools in that status must commit to restructuring under federal law, which can result in staff changes, private management or even a state takeover. Staff changes are common in the worst-rated districts, and state education officials usually promote reforms of curriculum and instructional technique.

The state has a template for improvement that stresses data analysis, so that schools can pinpoint why their students are not learning and establish a multiyear plan to fix those problems. State intervention requires the districts to seek state approval for all that planning, and the worst schools often get additional staff, including staffers the state calls distinguished educators.

State Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak is meeting with some of the most troubled districts to help them establish improvement and restructuring plans. He met with Woodland Hills officials twice in the past month and said he was pleased with the school board’s leadership.

“We have to make sure we deliver on academics as promised,” said new Woodland Hills Superintendent Walter Calinger. “We want all the help we can get.”

Calinger is one of more than a dozen new administrators at Woodland Hills. Most of the hires were coincidental and not a direct response to the district’s academic troubles, McCool said.

The district has a distinguished educator to help with curriculum and professional development. To respond to low test scores, administrators are beefing up practice tests and adding class time focused on reading and math, hence the elimination of field trips and assemblies, McCool said.

Pittsburgh this year is opening a high school in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh, something mandated by its board several years ago.

Duquesne, which halted classes this week when its teachers went on strike, has hired two principals from Pittsburgh to lead its one- building school. Principal Davaun Barnett will spend most of his time in classrooms, monitoring teachers and students as they acclimate to new instructional techniques, said Sarah Zablotsky, spokeswoman for the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which was put in charge of Duquesne last year.

The unit also added to the support staff and provided more help for teachers to learn techniques for establishing discipline and focusing on instruction in the classroom. The school is using two new teaching programs this year that are supposed to build students’ confidence and, ultimately, self-control.

Timothy Puko can be reached at tpuko@tribweb.com. Karen Roebuck can be reached at kroebuck@tribweb.com or 412-320-7939.

(c) 2008 Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.