City's pilot program for gifted students on hold
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The Pittsburgh Public Schools has postponed a pilot program for gifted students until fall, saying it needs more time to put the program together.
The pilot was to begin in a few weeks for about 185 students at five schools -- Pittsburgh Colfax K-8, Squirrel Hill; Pittsburgh Dilworth PreK-5, East Liberty; Pittsburgh Fort Pitt PreK-5, Garfield; Pittsburgh Grandview K-5, Allentown; and Pittsburgh Northview PreK-5.
The students were to receive gifted instruction in their home schools five days a week, a departure from the usual practice of traveling to the Pittsburgh Gifted Center in Elliott for special classes one day a week.
District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said the pilot was postponed until fall because the new program wasn't ready for students.
"We didn't want them to lose anything just to move the pilot along," she said.
Until fall, the 185 students will continue to attend once-a-week classes at the Gifted Center, along with gifted students from other district elementary schools.
Selected teachers from the five schools also are training at the Gifted Center in preparation for the pilot.
The school board approved the pilot in April, following about two years of study.
The groundwork included an assessment of the district's gifted program by the Council of the Great City Schools and a task force's visit to gifted programs in seven other cities. The task force ultimately recommended daily gifted instruction at the students' home schools.
"We want to assure you that we are moving full-steam ahead with the gifted task force's recommendations," Patricia A. Gennari, executive director of support services, said in a letter to parents last month.
The school board last month approved a contract of up to $112,000 with Gentry and Byers Inc., a consulting firm in West Lafayette, Ind., affiliated with Purdue University. The consultants have a June 30 deadline to help design the pilot's instructional program.
First Published January 20, 2009 12:00 am
