In what would be another component of Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's turnaround plan, the Pittsburgh Public Schools may bring in a company to run a new alternative education program for its most troubled students.

The school board Education Committee tonight will hear a presentation from Community Education Partners of Nashville, Tenn., a company that operates alternative education programs in Philadelphia, Houston and other urban school districts.

Board member Daniel Romaniello Sr., who has toured its operations in Philadelphia, said the program here likely would target students who are disruptive, at risk of dropping out and performing years below grade level. He said they would be placed in the program for months, if necessary.

The district already operates the Student Achievement Center in Homewood for students in grades six through 12 who get into fights, bring drugs or weapons to school, or otherwise violate the code of conduct. They may be in that program for days, weeks or months.

Mr. Romaniello suggested Community Education Partners, or CEP, would augment the current programs, focusing on students who have the severest problems and need the greatest care.

J. Kaye Cupples, executive director of support services, said he has toured CEP operations in Philadelphia and asked the company to make a presentation. He declined to discuss details until after the meeting but said CEP's work would complement Mr. Roosevelt's "Excellence for All" agenda, which includes pushing the district's worst-performing students, cutting the dropout rate and raising the district's overall test scores.

The CEP program also could help address teachers' concerns about a growing discipline problem.

John Tarka, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said more orderly classrooms are key to raising achievement. But Mr. Tarka said he'd like the district to develop more alternative education programs in-house.

If CEP does run the program, he said, teaching slots should go to PFT members. He noted that some union members are slated to lose jobs because of budget cuts and a reorganization of schools.

An official from CEP did not respond to an interview request last week.

On its Web site, the company says the average disruptive and low-performing student gains two grade levels in reading and math for each year in the company's program:

"CEP makes schools safer by removing these students from the district schools. ... CEP's goals are to achieve a positive behavioral change and to improve academic performance for students who are not earning grade promotion or course credit at a pace that will allow them to graduate on time."

CEP divides a school into four classrooms organized around a common area and does not permit students to mingle in hallways between classes. The company says it has a "school-to-career program" to help students develop the "basic skills and personal qualities needed to succeed in the workplace."

It also has a "student service center," which, Mr. Romaniello said, may include help with a family's financial problems or addressing domestic abuse.

"This program seems to get more at the root of the reason the kid is disruptive or not performing," he said.

In some cities, Mr. Romaniello said, 80 percent of students graduate from regular schools after leaving CEP.

"To me, that's a significant number," he said.

But the CEP program hasn't run smoothly everywhere.

According to Texas newspapers, the Dallas school district decided it could do the job better itself, while the Pasadena school district voiced concern about CEP's academic rigor and also experienced administrative problems, including final exams that went ungraded and report cards that weren't mailed.

Like Mr. Romaniello, Pittsburgh school board member Randall Taylor said he wants to study the possibility of providing the program to students he described as the city's most vulnerable. He said he's concerned about the future of the district's alternative education programs because Student Achievement Center Principal Janis Ripper, whom he described as highly effective, has been reassigned to work on an improvement plan for district high schools.

Board member Jean Fink said she believes the district's alternative education program is operating well now.

Of CEP, she said, "I'm certainly not pushing for it."