Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt today released a report showing that the district has met or exceeded its goals in eight categories, made progress in 23 categories and shown no progress or a moderate decline in seven categories in its Excellence for All agenda.

"Today the data shows that we have made significant strides in our efforts to increase the achievement of our students," said Mr. Roosevelt.

The report states the district has implemented a new preK-12 curriculum, launched a system aimed at improving school principals, provided training for instructional staff, used diagnostic assessments to improve student learning, provided instructional coaches in every school, introduced positive behavior supports and expanded early childhood offerings.

Of goals not met, the report notes there was not an increase in the number of International Baccalaureate diplomas and the number of students taking IB exams; proficiency in 11th-grade reading has declined; and advanced levels in 11th grade math have declined.

Mr. Roosevelt believes that the addition of a middle years IB program will lead to increased IB test participation.

Mr. Roosevelt initially outlined the goals for Excellence for All in 2006. An additional plan, Excel.9-12: The Plan for High School Excellence, was released in 2007.

Using 2004-05 as a baseline and the 2008-09 results for comparison, the plan notes:

Percentage of third-graders at the proficiency level rose from 49 percent to 62 percent.

Reading proficiency went up across all gender, ethnicity, socio-economic and ability levels

Graduation rate went up by 8.3 percentage points.

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