On the January "Start a new post," Anonymous wrote:
"http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_661337.html
This is in the Tribune Review today regarding the Pittsburgh promise."
- This is a hard hitting opinion piece titled "Failed Premise" which asks if corporations are doing a lot of good with contributions to the Promise. From the article:
"Presumably, the goals of the Pittsburgh Promise program are two-fold: to reverse the long-term trend of falling enrollment in Pittsburgh's public schools and to improve the academic performance of its students. By all accounts, the early returns are not encouraging."
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The article discusses in detail trends in SAT scores in PPS.
PURE raised this topic at the December public hearing and received a response from the district- more later.
I enjoyed the article and would hope that for once, the Bellefield Avenue PR machine can begin to feel some heat. But hard-hitting? The authors should have delved into what I have read here countless times: the district's 50% grading policy was undoubtedly designed to inflate grades and put students into that 2.5 GPA range. That's the problem. You can inflate grades all you like, but when that same student takes PSSA and SAT's, the truth comes out.
The Promise is all about public relations and at last, perhaps the veil is being pulled away from this administration's doings. Instead of truly trying to raise the achievement of students, this bunch has seen fit to blame teachers and to inflate grades. It's sen fit to spend the most money in hiring even more administrators.
I wish the authors would have gone down this road with their points.
Jake Haulk. Has he ever had anything positive to say?
Does Bellefield ever admit anything negative?
The option of attending 13th grade would make a great counter measure to some of the noise that is raised in that line of thinking.
no one will go for using Promise money to pay for a grade 13, but thats not a bad idea.
but the more I think about it....thats what the Promise money is NOW paying for, what with the many kids graduating from PPS and going to CCAC to take remedial courses to prepare for college work.
The author of this article is the director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Take a look at what its website has to say about the PPS. It is very supportive of the voucher system- not something that I would approve of.
http://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/education/pittsburghpublicschools.html
Last time you visited the 13th grade idea, Mark, you wanted to come up with some prep school type of idea that would appease all of the athletes who spent more time on the court than in their books. Don't we as a district have enough problems?
Jake Haulk has been on numerous radio shows and also on PCNC shows like NightTalk where he has sounded his support for vouchers.
Yeah, I've heard this guy take Roosevelt to task. Shame. If there was only some way they could both get lost.
I think it's pretty clear where the author is coming from -- he wants this money going to private schools.
Some of his points about the ability of PPS admin to claim improvements of any scale are valid.
I find his solution to the problem ludicrous, however. Until these private schools are publishing demographic data (so we can compare apples to apples), PSSA results (and taking them), other standardized test scores, and SAT results, there's no sense in moving money anywhere outside the public realm.
I've been told that his organization is a conservative think tank pretty much funded by Scaife- the publisher of the Tribune Review.
Yup. Hence the fondness for vouchers and public funding of private schools.
I reread the piece and will be pulling out my A+ Report to the Community to see if it is the source for some of the facts in the article.
The idea of a 10,000 scholarship allowing anyone to choose a non-public option while giving up any claim to Promise money would cause a real circus. It is probably not politically correct to say so but there are likely a few kids in non-public schools solely to keep a safe distance from students of color. (Gasp!) Imagine the moving around it would cause.
The question of 11th grade performance of the PSSA posed in the article? Personally, I would not even think for a minute that the Promise would make a positive impact of the 11th grade PSSAs for at least 5 years. Until the PSSA results are part of the transcripts kids won't really care so any improvement would be about 5years out since it might take the kids who really care that long to change the way they approach education.
Haulk usually shows up on tv or radio after a piece is published like this so if you feel your blood pressure has been dropping too low and you want to get that old BP rush, tune in when you hear he'll be a guest. Almost makes me miss Mr. Florida.
PPS already has a "13th grade" of sorts. Students who are behind can apply to the Student Achievement Center to make-up credits during their regular 4 years in PPS. Seniors who still don't have enough credits to graduate, (even after summer school, etc.) can still go to the SAC as a "Special 5," or whatever name they have for them, after their class graduates.
It is hard to NOT graduate from PPS. The system bends over backwards for the students. Of course this is at the taxpayers' expense.
Still, even after a couple of years you might expect an improvement in SAT scores since those do count. If the program was announced in Dec 2006 the 11th graders would have been in 9th grade. It takes a little digging to find the results, though, due to changes in demographics.
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