The Pittsburgh Public Schools yesterday unveiled a plan for academic renewal that puts "coaches" in every school and calls for a new districtwide curriculum.

A coach is a person who offers professional development and feedback to teachers in the classroom on a daily basis.

The district now has coaches divide their time among several buildings. The plan assigns one coach to each elementary school, and two to each of the new accelerated learning academies, expanded elementary schools, and middle and high schools.

The plan also calls for new reading and math programs in elementary schools and new reading, math, science and social studies programs in middle and high schools.

Lynn Spampinato, deputy superintendent for instruction, assessment and accountability, said the district's fragmented curriculum -- a mishmash of unaligned programs -- will be replaced with one that is unified and more rigorous. She proposed Kaplan K12 Learning Services as the district's curriculum partner.

Under her plan, Kaplan would write the curriculum for the schools.

"We must raise the standards for all children," Dr. Spampinato said. She said the professional development for teachers provided through the coaches will ensure successful implementation of the new programs.

Periodic testing will determine whether students are learning lessons. That data will be used to make adjustments in the curriculum and provide support to students and teachers.

Dr. Spampinato said the unified curriculum, connected across grade levels, should help improve scores on the state reading and math tests. She said the district's expectations must exceed the minimum state requirements.

She said the district must prepare students for successful completion of Advanced Placement courses at the high school level. To do that, she said, teachers must begin laying the groundwork in middle school.

The district plans to funnel more federal Title I instructional money to schools with the highest percentages of poor students.

Dr. Spampinato also said she was proposing a new procedure for buying textbooks that will lead to more uniformity districtwide. She said she was surprised to learn the district was buying as many as three different geometry textbooks at one time.

She said the purchase of a single textbook not only benefits students, but also allows the district to negotiate a better price.

Matthew Given, vice president for school improvement for Kaplan, said a unified curriculum is particularly important in urban school districts, in which students often move from building to building during the year.

With a unified curriculum, he said, those students have no gaps in their education.

Much of the funding for the curriculum changes and professional development will come from downsizing central administration.

Lisa Fischetti, district chief of staff, said about 188 positions at central office would be affected. About 88 would be cut. The other employees would be given new duties, some as coaches in the schools.