Pittsburgh Public Schools officials said student attendance during the first week of classes at eight new accelerated learning academies averaged 80 percent of the anticipated level, but Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said it was too early in the school year to provide reliable figures on any of the city schools.

Mr. Roosevelt said, however, there are no dramatic increases in city students enrolling in charter and parochial schools.

He said the district projected total enrollment at 30,420, and so far it is around 30,286. If historical trends hold this year, that number may grow as students continue to trickle in.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette requested data to see whether parents and students were availing themselves of the longer school day and extended school year at the academies, which are using the $3.6 million America's Choice program of teaching strategies and curriculum supplements. The academies serve elementary and middle-grade students.

The academies began the school year Aug. 21, 10 days earlier than other schools. Their school day is 45 minutes longer than other schools'. The academies are a key component of Mr. Roosevelt's turnaround plan, and district officials hope the extra class time will boost student performance.

District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said student attendance at the academies averaged 80 percent for the first week and gave the following school-specific attendance rates for that week: 80 percent, Arlington; 90 percent, Colfax, Squirrel Hill; 80 percent, Fort Pitt, Garfield; 82 percent, King, North Side; 79 percent, Murray, Mount Oliver; 77 percent, Northview Heights; 80 percent, Rooney, North Side; and 80 percent, Weil, Hill District.

She said those numbers represented an "excellent turnout."

In at least the case of Fort Pitt, however, the baseline enrollment used to calculate attendance changed during the first few days of the school year as students transferred to other city schools and to parochial, charter and private schools. By the start of week two, the district had adjusted Fort Pitt's enrollment from about 500 to 400, Ms. Pugh said.

To get a better handle on whether families were embracing the academies or leaving them for other schools, the Post-Gazette requested additional data, including the projected enrollment for each school before Aug. 21, number of students in attendance on Aug. 21 and number in attendance last week.

Spokeswoman Lynne Turnquist said the district would not provide the information. She said enrollment data this early in the school year is unreliable because students still are transferring among schools, and she noted that the state doesn't require enrollment reports until about a month into the school year.

Officials also noted that some parents don't send their children to school until after Labor Day. The academies opened two weeks before Labor Day, and the district's other 57 schools opened two school days before the holiday.

Mr. Roosevelt said attendance seemed a "little down" at some schools and cited Fort Pitt, King and Murray. Like Ms. Turnquist, he questioned the reliability of data he had seen.

Mr. Roosevelt said he is working to improve the way attendance data are collected.

"We do not have our system very well designed here to be reporting accurately on daily attendance until later in the opening month," he said. "The reason is historically kids trickle in and trickle out."

Most of the academies are in disadvantaged neighborhoods that Mr. Roosevelt said long had been shortchanged by the school district. While Mr. Roosevelt has touted the academies' benefits, including the extra instructional time and America's Choice program, some parents have not been enthusiastic about the new schools.

In part, that's because creation of the academies was part of a broader restructuring that involved closing 22 elementary and middle schools. Thousands of students were assigned to other schools, including the academies.

Ed Brandt, director of Brightwood Civic Group, which unsuccessfully opposed the closing of Mann Elementary on the North Side, said he's heard a few parents say they're "pulling their kids out of the system or moving" because they don't like the new school assignments. Mann's students were divided between King Accelerated Learning Academy and Morrow Elementary, schools in different parts of the North Side.

"There's more reluctance to have your child bused to Martin Luther King, simply because it's farther, it's a couple of miles, and it's a completely different neighborhood. That location is not considered a great location," Mr. Brandt said.