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By Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writer In a survey of the central school district in each of the 15 PG Benchmarks regions, Pittsburgh is neither at the top nor the bottom in most categories. Except in teacher pay. The Pittsburgh Public Schools’ salaries outrank all those of all counterparts in the other 14 cities.
"It helps to attract people and hold them,’’ said Al Fondy, president of the Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers. "We’ve tried to keep a decent starting salary so you can attract people.’’ Pittsburgh teachers start at $33,000 a year with a bachelor’s degree and, in their 10th year, earn $64,500 with a master’s degree. They also can earn an extra $1,100 if they have more than 22 years of experience. In terms of numbers of students, Pittsburgh -- with about 39,603 students -- is one of the smallest districts in the field. The largest is Miami-Dade County Public Schools, with more than 352,000 students. The Benchmarks districts have many similarities: Most have had or currently have orders
to desegregate, have magnet schools, and offer high-level Advanced Placement and
International Baccalaureate courses at some of their high schools. There are also many differences. The districts serve a wide variety of areas. Some serve an entire county, while others, such as Pittsburgh, are limited to the city. The percentage of low-income students -- as measured by the percentage receiving free or reduced-price lunch -- ranges from 33.8 percent in Portland, Ore., to 82.8 percent in St. Louis. Pittsburgh’s figure is 64 percent. None of the districts is immune from the national movement toward setting standards. In Pennsylvania, the state Board of Education has approved standards in math and language arts. Pittsburgh already was moving toward a standards-based system before the state standards were approved. Students will be required to meet standards in each course, but there won’t be one high-stakes graduation test, said spokeswoman Pat Crawford. Pittsburgh has a good reputation among some educational groups. "I’ve always thought Pittsburgh was a pretty innovative district and tried to do some good things," said Jamie Horowitz, spokesman for the American Federation of Teachers. "We have a lot of respect for Pittsburgh. It’s light years away from some of the other school districts in terms of funding problems and in terms of political problems and historical issues.’’ One of the most important results in any school is, of course, student achievement. But measuring it is difficult because there are so many types of tests and so many kinds of achievement. On the SAT college entrance examination, for example, Pittsburgh’s average score of 919 puts it near the bottom of the Benchmarks list, but the ACT average was at the top among urban districts listed by the Council of the Great City Schools. The ACT college entrance exam was taken by about 35 percent of the Class of 1998; the SAT, 43 percent. The higher the percentage of students taking the test, the lower the district’s overall score tends to be -- that is because not just the brightest students are taking the test. In Minneapolis Public Schools, students on average scored above the national average on both. Amy Barrett, Minneapolis spokeswoman, said, "I think Minnesota has always been toward the top of the list for graduation rates, test scores. I think it’s a value in the community.’’ Offering high-powered courses can impact achievement. In its recent release of nationwide SAT scores, the College Board noted that students who had more Advanced Placement and honors courses scored higher on average than other students. Access to such courses is an issue. In California, the ACLU of Southern California has filed suit against the state, charging the schools that serve predominantly minorities have far fewer AP courses than other schools. In the Benchmarks cities, the number of AP courses ranges from five in Cleveland to 29
in Milwaukee. The Pittsburgh school district offers 18 Advanced Placement courses, but, as in some other Benchmarks districts, not all of the courses are offered in all schools. Some city classes that prepare students for AP exams are open only to gifted students. Allderdice High School, which has the highest number of identified gifted students in the city, offers the most AP courses. There are 300 spaces filled at Allderdice in 13 AP courses, all open to students at large. In addition, some are enrolled in three upper-level foreign language courses for gifted students, some of whom take AP exams. Westinghouse High School has a program for gifted students but has no AP courses. Joyce Clark, middle/secondary gifted support facilitator, has been working to increase the AP offerings at all high schools, for all students. "Schools that never did AP testing before did it last year. What that means is they’re really working toward preparing kids better,’’ she said. "The importance is raising the standards.’’ Access to AP courses varies among schools within the same district in other Benchmark cities as well. In Cincinnati, which has 24 AP offerings, the largest number is at Walnut Hills High School, a school which requires students to pass a test for admission. Other high schools have only a few. But some have other special magnet programs, such as Montessori and Paideia Critical Thinking. AP is just one way to provide extra options. In many urban districts, magnet schools offer specialized programs although typically most students are not in such schools. In Cincinnati, for example, about 30 percent of the students attend magnet schools while the figure is nearly 25 percent in Pittsburgh. Since 1983, the Pittsburgh School District has offered the International Baccalaureate program as a magnet program within Schenley High School. Students who pass the exams, which are given internationally, can earn up to one year of college credit. In the Class of 1999, 12 students earned a full IB diploma and 67 other exams were passed. This year, more than 125 students are taking at least one IB course. Now, all but two Benchmarks cities -- Cleveland and Seattle -- have IB programs in at least one high school. Paul Campbell, associate director of the IB program’s North American office in New York City, considers the IB program at Schenley to be in the "middle range’’ on size. "The IB option exists in the vast majority of urban areas now,’’ said Campbell. "That usually means there’s one to three IB schools in a district." Pittsburgh also is trying to address the achievement of all students, particularly with a literacy emphasis this year. That includes naming two schools as "demonstration schools’’ to help teachers throughout the district learn the best methods to teach reading. Overall, Pittsburgh school superintendent Helen Faison thinks Pittsburgh is doing
fairly well on achievement, but added, "There are still too many of our children who
don’t do as well as I think they can and should do in the school system.’’ One factor often linked to restricted achievement is poverty. The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch is probably the variable that most negatively correlates with academic achievement, said Council of the Great City Schools executive director Michael Casserly. "Those with the higher numbers have the biggest hurdle to jump.’’ With about two-thirds of its students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, Pittsburgh falls in the middle third of the 15 Benchmarks cities. "It means that the school has to provide for more referrals to agencies, to programs that provide social services to students. We have to take into account that we have to address the study environments for children,’’ said Faison. Some studies have shown that students achieve better in small classes, kindergarten through third grade as the most critical. "That has more to do with overcoming poverty than almost anything else you can do, in the early years in particular,’’ said Casserly. Pittsburgh’s average first-grade class size of 22.4 is among the lower numbers on the Benchmarks list. The teacher contract provides that if a kindergarten or first-grade class exceeds 27, then a part-time teacher’s aide is assigned to the classroom. Some schools this fall also found their class sizes reduced because federal funding aimed at reducing class size enabled the district to hire 33 primary grade teachers. California has a major initiative to reduce class size in the kindergarten through third grade to 20. In some districts, this resulted in a lack of certified teachers or space. The San Diego Unified School District last year dropped its average first-grade class size from 29 to 20, said spokesman David Smollar. This year, the district expects to have a 19.5 student average class size for kindergarten through third grade. The district includes most of the city and part of the suburbs. While it’s too early for a scientific study, Smollar said, "anecdotally, without question, all of our teachers say it makes a difference. You can pay more individual attention. It’s easier to deal with discipline and classroom management problems.’’ He said the district’s scores on state tests also showed some progress. "Part of that is related to smaller class size,’’ he said. In Cincinnati, average first-grade class size of 22 is similar to Pittsburgh’s, but the approach is different than in most Pittsburgh schools. Cincinnati is building a system of teams of teachers who keep the same group of students in grades 1 through 3. Some have multi-age classrooms. There also are teams for grades 4 to 6 and 7 and 8. Each level has required exit standards. That kind of cultural change is a tall order, said Kathleen Ware, associate superintendent in Cincinnati. "The rigid grade-based system is entrenched. However, we will never implement a true standards-based system unless we can make this change.’’ She estimated such change will take five more years. Minneapolis voters in 1996 approved a referendum for $30 to $44 million a year over five years to maintain class sizes that were reduced in 1990. The average for kindergarten through third grade fell to 17 this year. In addition, Minneapolis added a second licensed teacher to third-grade classrooms in schools where 75 percent or more of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. "I think people believe the health of the city is directly dependent on the health of the school system,’’ said Barrett. Around the country, more and more voters are deciding to provide schools with more money for buildings or programs. Some school districts are required to get voter approval for tax increases or bonds. Casserly, of the Great City Schools, said only two of about two dozen such requests since 1996 have been rejected in major cities. In Pittsburgh, the elected school board has the power to raise taxes but hasn’t approved a tax increase since December 1992. All of the Benchmarks cities except for Cleveland have elected school boards, but not all can raise taxes. Cincinnati has a tax levy on the November ballot this year. The district already has cut $10 million from schools -- $180 per pupil -- and $10 million from the central offices. If the tax levy passes, the money will be restored to schools but not to the central offices. "If the levy fails, we will have severe cuts to make,’’ said Ware. With a $13.4 million budget gap forecast in Pittsburgh for the calendar year 2000, Faison was noncommittal about a tax increase. "Certainly the board has been asked to think about all possible options. I think people want good things to happen in Pittsburgh. I’m not sure how happy they would be to find out that it costs more to do that.’’
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