Editors Note: Superintendent Linda Lane shared the message below in an email to school district partners last week.
On Tuesday, April 6th, Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera joined us at Pittsburgh Lincoln PreK-5 for the first of six STAR school celebrations. STAR stands for Students and Teachers Achieving Results and is a rewards and recognition program in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. STAR awards school staff for making great gains in student achievement. Pittsburgh Lincoln, along with Pittsburgh Arsenal 6-8, Pittsburgh, Faison K-5, Pittsburgh Woolslair PreK-5 and Pittsburgh MillerPreK-5 all ranked among the top 25 percent of all other Pennsylvania schools based upon student growth. Please read more about this year’s STAR schools in the PG’s
Pittsburgh Lincoln PreK—5 among City Schools Receiving STAR honor.
We exist to provide all Pittsburgh children with an academic education enriched with support to address to the needs of the whole. That’s why on Tuesday evening, we shared with the Board our intention to plan through a period of financial transition as several active grants that have supported our work begin to sunset. Over the past five years our vision for students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools has attracted generous support from local and national foundations. A significant portion of this funding has been used to support contracts and staff positions that have contributed to the design, launch and implementation of new initiatives intended to improve student outcomes, teacher effectiveness and our District culture. As we plan to meet our commitments to maintaining summer learning and out-of-school time, providing extra support to students and ensuring all students experience effective teaching it will be important we remain fiscally responsible. Tuesday’s conversation with the Board was the first in a two-step process that aims to preserve and strengthen essential efforts to ensure we reach our vision of all students graduating from a four-year college or workforce certification program. You can find local media coverage of Tuesday’s conversation in
Pittsburgh Public Schools discusses next steps after grants expire and Pittsburgh Public Schools confident programs will stay despite loss of grants.
On Wednesday, I was pleased to announce that we will ask our Board to accept two grants, totaling nearly $900,000, to launch STEAM in PPS. Made possible by the Grable Foundation and the Fund for Excellence, the grants will support the District’s plan to develop a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) K-12 pathways for children in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. As part of our Whole Child, Whole Community plan we identified the need to explore options for newly themed magnets and create equitable pathways for students in their areas of academic and career interest. For the start of the 2015-16 school year, the plan opens up space at Pittsburgh Wooslair through a partial magnet, enhances Pittsburgh Lincoln’s Technology and Pre-Engineering program and phases in a STEAM emphasis at Pittsburgh Schiller 6-8. We will use the next school year to explore STEAM programming possibilities at Pittsburgh Perry High School. A portion of the Grable grant will also support the development of a mini-grant program for teachers across the District interested in integrating STEAM practices into their classrooms. Details around the mini-grant program will be shared this fall. We are grateful for the continued support we have received from the local foundation community. It is only because of this support that we are able to launch STEAM in PPS. Read more in the PG’s Pittsburgh schools going full STEAM ahead.
This week got off to a great start as we celebrated our final STAR celebration at Pittsburgh Miller. Nothing better than hearing a chorus of students rapping “Read it, Think it, Re-read it, Summarize it!”
Wishing you all a fantastic week.