A tutoring and family services program will begin in the Penn Hills School District next month, thanks to a more than $1 million grant obtained by the district for at-risk students.

The district will receive $338,000 a year over the next 2¹/₂ years, beginning Feb. 1, through the state Department of Education 21st Century grant. The district hopes to improve, among other things, Pennsylvania System of School Assessment test scores and the learning skills of pupils who attend Penn Hebron Academy and Linton Middle School sixth through eighth grades.

Stefanie Bergamasco, the district's coordinator of professional development and funding, who obtained the grant, announced it at Tuesday's school board meeting.

Ms. Bergamasco said after-school and summer programs will be set up at both schools and in a satellite center in the Lincoln Park Community Center. The center has been closed for more than a year due to damage caused by a fire but is expected to reopen before summer.

She said the grant will enable the district to provide a full spectrum of services, including tutoring, social and family services such as job and education counseling and substance abuse help.

"It's [about] the whole child," Ms. Bergamasco said.

Other programs, such as a family support club, will offer periodic sessions over dinner during which families, pupils and teachers can share information.

Some Penn Hebron and Linton PSSA scores from last school year proved disappointing for officials. Reading scores of last year's Penn Hebron fifth-graders showed 64 percent at basic or below proficiency.

Those fifth-graders are now in sixth grade at Linton.

Last term's eighth-graders scored lower in reading and math than did the class before them, with 52 percent scoring at basic or below proficiency in reading and nearly 57 percent scoring at that level in math.

In a move to head off achievement problems even earlier, the school board also passed a separate resolution Tuesday night saying all pupils must master reading skills by the end of third grade.

A new emphasis on teaching reading, including using extended reading time blocks in the school day, will be encouraged at every building, board members said.

"Students leaving third grade without mastering reading skills are at a disadvantage," the resolution said.

"The board wants to be on record supporting this," board President Richard Vuocolo said, and that means providing funding to accomplish it.