In a video-taped message, city schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said, "The Promise is what makes everything go in the Pittsburgh Public Schools," at the moment.
from Post-Gazette article on the Pittsburgh Promise: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10182/1069700-100.stm
The total amount was not leveraged this year; there's no indication if there's any way of making that up in future years. It looks like a correction is needed to the amount of the match -- UPMC gives $1 for every $1.50 donated, not the other way around, according to the totals given for donations.
Interesting data about graduation rates is also mentioned.
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I don't mean to be a wise guy, but the article gave an example two young women who say that, thanks to the Promise, they were able to go to 4 year colleges--Robert Morris and Penn State-Altoona--rather than having to go to community college. But couldn't they have gone to community college for two years, transferred their credits, and still have gotten degrees at 4-year schools? Seems like they didn't get such a great deal. And by the way, how good do your grades really have to be to get into Robert Morris and Penn State-Altoona?
The point here is that they are going to college. No matter what complaints I have about the PPS- and I have MANY-it is a good thing, don't you think?
I agree with anon 11:58. Although I don't agree with Mr. Roosevelt that the Promise will save the district and I am very very tired with hearing how wonderful it is and I agree with anon 11:30 that there are other good ways to fund college, if the publicity surrounding the Promise leads a few more kids towards college and a few more kids from leaving the city/system, then it is worthwhile.
The success of the Promise will only be realized after data is attained regarding the numbers of Promise recipients that actually complete their four year degree.
Will that be compared to non-Promise students who do or do not complete a four year degree? I know many students who do not.....some eventually do, others don't.
For consideration:
More than 50% of ALL of the 2010 PPS Graduating Class and more than 70% of 2010’s African American students who were NOT proficient on their PSSAs and therefore NOT eligible for graduation under PA guidelines. The question then becomes how many of these students graduated? How many qualified for the Promise? How many received Promise Scholarship funds? How many are academically prepared to finish even one year of college? How many will be able to continue to take advantage of the Promise through four years of college if PPS has not prepared them, academically, for that journey? Whose responsibility is it to track the progress, or lack thereof, for all Promise students?
I wonder how many of last year’s Promise student who were not technically eligible for graduation due to a lack of “proficient” status under PA standards, were able to successfully complete the first year of college funded by the Promise?
I know of many students who are going to school with financial aid at local colleges and universities.They are being helped along by these institutions with high school level support systems, taking and retaking tests, and generally being cheered through school. And guess what? A lot of them make it! It may not be the same kind of education that some of us may have had, but they are making it! And if the Promise helps, more power to it!
I also do know about students, Promise and non-Promise, who are leaving college after their sophomore and junior years, with a B AVERAGE, because they run out of money or their family needs them to take care of younger siblings. They often don't have the support at home because they are often the first to go to college. It is very easy to judge from the other side.
Anonymous 1:51 to Anonymous 2:03:
There is, here, total agreement with your comments. If there is an “other side” or any reason to “judge”__ it would not be PPS students or the Promise, but rather a system of education that has not shown the capacity to educate the majority of its students to even the minimal standards required. ALL students deserve to be prepared for college, careers, the Promise, and productive futures while they are in attendance at PPS.
To complete the last comment......And also educating families to value education and to help them to understand what the responsibilities are to help their children succeed in both school and in life.
Families are doing the best they can___and sending their best children to school. It is the responsibility of schools/educators to educate ALL children who cross the threshold of the school regardless of families, neighborhoods, backgrounds, incomes, situations beyond the school. It must be a "no excuses" approach and with the BELIEF that they are capable of teaching all children and that all children are capable of learning___ to limits not yet established.
This is interesting.
http://mo.statesman.com/news/local/district-documents-reveal-applicants-for-superintendent-781558.html
Apparently Mr Roosevelt is not as committed to Pittsburgh as much as he professes!
That we all agree upon, but what about that B student who gets a call and is told that they must come home because a babysitter is needed, or because the bill comes and the money needs to be spent otherwise, or doesn't exist. We do not know the circumstances that may cause a student to drop out of college,and it may have nothing to do with academic achievement. For the Promise to be even more effective would mean to establish a system to support the students to be able to deal with situations that make get in the way of their education
Well, too bad they didn't want him. I wonder why they didn't want him.
Most Districts require that a candidate for Superintendency by "Certified for the Position."
Austin, Texas, most likely, was NOT willing to waive the "Certification" requirement as Pennsylvania did/
The bio of the person chosen states that sh began as an educator.
As it should be! Experience and expertise in education is essential to effectiveness!
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/education/s_688806.html
BS.
Mr. Roosevelt knows the timing would have jeopardized the Gates money and everything else.
He has the majority of the school board eating out of the palm of his hand.
One inner city school is no less stressful than another one. He has a sweet deal here, he gets paid to teach a course at Mellon, he got a 200k "bonus" for his taxes from a foundation, and he has a full time personal police officer chauffeur. (Not to mention carte Blanche and a nice salary)
Poor guy is stressed, good reason to bail on a city.
I remember a woman confronting Roosevelt when the Schenley closure hearings were going on. She made comment about the community having to deal with his poor decisions long after he'd stepped beyond puny Pittsburgh. That was right on target. Here is a man with higher aspirations.
The Trib article almost prompted me to vomit. That the hairdresser...oops...board president...would justify such wanderings is unconscionable.
And if this is just now only hitting the media, it makes you wonder exactly how many other dabblings of interest he has had.
Amazing. We keep hearing the "We're all in this together speech" and the top dog is looking to bail out all along.
These people may be wonderfully individuals on a personal level but professionally, I wouldn't hire them to wash my car.
He probably threw his name in for several positions. That's most likely how he got the contract he did. Those on the board who wanted him here (for whatever reason) were likely told, better give him a good deal on this contract, he's got lots of other options. That's how he got things like moving expenses years into a position.
Others, like Mark Brentley, weren't told a thing -- because it wouldn't convince him that the contract should be sweetened to retain him.
When Mark Roosevelt stumbles, I don't cheer.
I would love to see Mark Roosevelt be wildly successful, and I hope it happens here, and I hope it happens as soon.
In my mind, Mark Roosevelt, as well as the board, the administration, the teachers, and all in and associated with PPS -- are on the same team as me.
IMNSHO, we're on the same team.
But, I often, too often, have this empty feeling that these thoughts I harbor for the good of my children and their peers, are not shared by others to the same degree.
I'll be the first and loudest to campaign to get Mark Roosevelt a NOBEL Prize for education and humanity / whatever -- as Superintendent of PPS -- when it is due.
I'd be willing to even suggest that we name (some time into the future) a new PPS High School after Mr. Mark Roosevelt, if it makes sense. That would happen after the city grows by 10,000 new students and other important benchmarks are mastered.
Perhaps the seed to our shared, joint, global success is found in the realm of 'teamwork.'
Perhaps, more than you realize, you are preaching to the choir. Perhaps, those who “blog” here have found the only way available____ to contribute “voice” to a closed group whose “power” resides in shutting down and out a “team” approach.
How might we open the PPS education process for “teamwork”?
I like to think that Mr.Rauterkus is being a bit facetious with this latest post but given his logic where the latest teacher contract is concerned, one cannot be sure.
Teamwork is a nice idea and one I have embraced for almost 3 decades in PPS. I came into this district and was blessed to work alongside numerous tremendous teachers who not only had been true union fighters but also had a passion for teaching urban kids who, in the whole scheme of our national landscape, are often the forgotten ones.
Union leadership recognized that those in the classrooms were the ultimate "team". They understood that within any team dynamic, there are many pieces of the puzzle. They understood the need to support what simply must be considered the main cog--the teachers. Union leadership ensured that administration provided guidance as to how move children forward but at no time was permitted to take teachers out of the mix where ideas like solid teaching instruction, the ability to impart knowledge effectively, the need to provide children with the ability to not only understand and appreciate the need for education, but the need to think for themselves, to question authority and higher power.
What you have witnessed in this town over the Roosevelt years, Mr.Rauterkus, is an agenda which has been pushed into place at the expense of our students and with little question.
For whatever reasons, the PFT has capitulated. The general public has been provided a solid and never-ending flow of propaganda which has been called "news" so as to form public opinion. Meanwhile, the idea that we have put canned, inane curricula into almost every subject area, told teachers to adhere to it or risk losing jobs, instituted a grading policy meant to inflate grades so as to enable students to attain Pittsburgh Promise monies without doing the necessary classroom work, and targeted talented teachers because they question what is going on has gone unnoticed.
I have to laugh at this idea of "progressivism." On the surface, one sees initiatives like the Promise, like Gates money, like the Broad Foundation, like the Pittsburgh Institute and other ideals, and somehow surmises that Pittsburgh is "progressive." And yet, it's been a shell game that has entranced local media and the unwashed masses into thinking that our kids are getting a world class education.
Team play?
The superintendent himself is looking to bolt to greener pastures. Administration has restructured the idea of school administration and is just beginning the idea of revamping teaching staff--read, cutting through an "evalutation" process so rife with generalities that anyone could be targeted at any time.
Teamwork?
From reading your posts Mr.Rauterkus, I gather that your kids attend a better school in the district. That said, your wanting to gather all parties in a circle to sing "Kumbaya" is not surprising. But until you can spend a year at a comprehensive high school--where most of our kids go---you are going to sound like you are sitting in an ivory tower somewhere.
Teamwork is great, as long as everyone is on board.
I like to think that Mr.Rauterkus is being a bit facetious with this latest post but given his logic where the latest teacher contract is concerned, one cannot be sure.
Teamwork is a nice idea and one I have embraced for almost 3 decades in PPS. I came into this district and was blessed to work alongside numerous tremendous teachers who not only had been true union fighters but also had a passion for teaching urban kids who, in the whole scheme of our national landscape, are often the forgotten ones.
What you have witnessed in this town over the Roosevelt years, Mr.Rauterkus, is an agenda which has been pushed into place at the expense of our students and with little question.
For whatever reasons, the PFT has capitulated. The general public has been provided a solid and never-ending flow of propaganda which has been called "news" so as to form public opinion. Meanwhile, the idea that we have put canned, inane curricula into almost every subject area, told teachers to adhere to it or risk losing jobs, instituted a grading policy meant to inflate grades so as to enable students to attain Pittsburgh Promise monies without doing the necessary classroom work, and targeted talented teachers because they question what is going on has gone unnoticed.
I have to laugh at this idea of "progressivism." On the surface, one sees initiatives like the Promise, like Gates money, like the Broad Foundation, like the Pittsburgh Institute and other ideals, and somehow surmises that Pittsburgh is "progressive." And yet, it's been a shell game that has entranced local media and the unwashed masses into thinking that our kids are getting a world class education.
Team play?
The superintendent himself is looking to bolt to greener pastures. Administration has restructured the idea of school administration and is just beginning the idea of revamping teaching staff--read, cutting through an "evalutation" process so rife with generalities that anyone could be targeted at any time.
Teamwork?
From reading your posts Mr.Rauterkus, I gather that your kids attend a better school in the district. That said, your wanting to gather all parties in a circle to sing "Kumbaya" is not surprising. But until you can spend a year at a comprehensive high school--where most of our kids go---you are going to sound like you are sitting in an ivory tower somewhere.
Teamwork is great, as long as everyone is on board.
I like to think that Mr.Rauterkus is being a bit facetious with this latest post but given his logic where the latest teacher contract is concerned, one cannot be sure.
Teamwork is a nice idea and one I have embraced for almost 3 decades in PPS.
What you have witnessed in this town over the Roosevelt years, Mr.Rauterkus, is an agenda which has been pushed into place at the expense of our students and with little question.
For whatever reasons, the PFT has capitulated. The general public has been provided a solid and never-ending flow of propaganda which has been called "news" so as to form public opinion. Meanwhile, the idea that we have put canned, inane curricula into almost every subject area, told teachers to adhere to it or risk losing jobs, instituted a grading policy meant to inflate grades so as to enable students to attain Pittsburgh Promise monies without doing the necessary classroom work, and targeted talented teachers because they question what is going on has gone unnoticed.
I have to laugh at this idea of "progressivism." On the surface, one sees initiatives like the Promise, like Gates money, like the Broad Foundation, like the Pittsburgh Institute and other ideals, and somehow surmises that Pittsburgh is "progressive." And yet, it's been a shell game that has entranced local media and the unwashed masses into thinking that our kids are getting a world class education.
Team play?
The superintendent himself is looking to bolt to greener pastures. Administration has restructured the idea of school administration and is just beginning the idea of revamping teaching staff--read, cutting through an "evalutation" process so rife with generalities that anyone could be targeted at any time.
Teamwork?
From reading your posts Mr.Rauterkus, I gather that your kids attend a better school in the district. That said, your wanting to gather all parties in a circle to sing "Kumbaya" is not surprising. But until you can spend a year at a comprehensive high school--where most of our kids go---you are going to sound like you are sitting in an ivory tower somewhere.
Teamwork is great, as long as everyone is on board.
Review the PSSA Reading “PROFICIENT”
DATA for PPS High Schools .
(Source PDE –PAAYP official site)
Listed is DATA (short form) showing
Reading ‘progress’ over 5 years.
Allderdice 2004 = 75.6% 2009 = 65.5%
Brashear 2004 = 58.8% 2009 = 47.3%
Carrick 2004 = 47.2% 2009 = 57.8%
Langley 2004 = 39.2% 2009 = 43.1%
Oliver 2004 = 26.6% 2009 = 31.4%
Peabody 2004 = 21.0% 2009 = 26.2%
Perry 2003 = 41.5% 2009 = 39.3%
Schenley 2004 = 59.8% 2009 = 55.8%
Westnghse 2004 = 19.6% 2009 = 24.5%
The DATA for 2009 is the average rate of
“PROFICIENCY” for ALL graduates in the
Class of 2010.
(The long form shows DATA for each year
from 2002 through 2009-10 with Black and
White student data disaggregated___ showing
An achievement gap from 24% to 44%.
Over the 5 (Roosevelt) years, progress, if any,
is miniscule and insignificant. The problem continues to be seriously unacceptable. After
students are moved around in next year's
reorganization the District will not be required
to report the scores.
Please note that the Pennsylvania target for minimal "Proficiency" in Reading is 63%. ONLY Allderdice has reached the PA Target, exceeding it by 2.5 points. All other PPS High Schools have failed to meet the minimum standard set by the the PA Department of Education.
(PSSA Reading "Proficiency" Data - PA Target 63%)
Allderdice 2004 = 75.6% ____2009 = 65.5%
Brashear 2004 = 58.8%____ 2009 = 47.3%
Carrick 2004 = 47.2%____ 2009 = 57.8%
Langley 2004 = 39.2%____ 2009 = 43.1%
Oliver 2004 = 26.6%____ 2009 = 31.4%
Peabody 2004 = 21.0%____ 2009 = 26.2%
Perry 2003 = 41.5%____ 2009 = 39.3%
Schenley 2004 = 59.8%____ 2009 = 55.8%
Westnghse 2004 = 19.6%____ 2009 = 24.5%
Way to go Carrick!
What are the numbers for Pgh Obama?
Teamwork requires that everyone is on board.
Teamwork is so un-ivory tower-ish N@.
Teamwork could, would, should include educators_____within as well as outside PPS who could, would, should contribute to more substantial improvement in PPS.
Carrick has improved 2% each year over 5 years, but still has not reached the state minimum standard of 63%. While they are not declining as many of the other high schools, celebration might be warranted only because Carrick has not succumbed to the "reforms" of the past five year.
Re: "numbers for Obama"_____When students are redistributed or schools are reconfigured with new names, the claim is that they have no numbers to compare_____(even though the students in the district are essentially the same and each of their scores are available)___ there is not an official report for "new schools."
With today's technology it should not be too much work to make the comparison______but, I guess ithis way, administrators at newly named schools are not accountable for a few years.
And where is CAPA's #s?
It would be interesting to see how Sci Tech, U-Prep and IB (Pgh Obama) stack up with each other. And, in turn, how they stack up with CAPA and the other schools too.
And where is CAPA's #s?
It would be interesting to see how Sci Tech, U-Prep and IB (Pgh Obama) stack up with each other. And, in turn, how they stack up with CAPA and the other schools too.
CAPA is a school apart from all other PPS schools at this point. Students must audition, are hand-selected, and have a waiting list and do not stay if they do not meet requirements. Teachers are also hand-selected and a breed apart from the general PPS population of teachers. It is not a neighborhood school and does not have a feeder pattern.
That being said, the "numbers" in Reading "proficiency" are as follows after three years___2007 = 88.1%,_______2008 = 92.4%,_____2009 = 94.8%.
ALL PPS students have talents, yet untapped and undeveloped, that they demonstrate in multiple way every minute of every day. The challenge for PPS is to identify these strengths/wits/talents/skills and facilitate, similarly, the development/refinement in the positive/productive ways that will allow them to uniquely flourish and succeed.
A managed curriculum that excludes the rich variety of offerings (provided at CAPA) will never meet the needs of ALL of our Pittsburgh students.
Anon at 1:34, your comments about Carrick are on target. Simply put, they have in the past and still have a hard working, dedicated faculty. Pity that the superintendent and union leader can only look at them as being a place where malcontents toil.
Anon at 2:49, your comments are so full of hot air that you must be an administrator.
1. " Teachers are also hand-selected and a breed apart from the general PPS population of teachers." Hogwash. The selection process is an interview like any other. Who are you trying to fool? There are good teachers at CAPA. There are good teachers at Oliver who could immediately fill their shoes. Or Langley. Or Westinghouse.
2."ALL PPS students have talents, yet untapped and undeveloped, that they demonstrate in multiple way every minute of every day. The challenge for PPS is to identify these strengths/wits/talents/skills and facilitate, similarly, the development/refinement in the positive/productive ways that will allow them to uniquely flourish and succeed." Your manifesto sounds like it comes straight out of a textbook. Any teacher knows this, so just who are you trying to impress with the arrogant claptrap? Tell you what---come over to my school, located in gangland. Let's see how good you are at finding the talents you speak of. I know that our staff could switch places with you immediately. I'm wondering if you can say the same.
3. "A managed curriculum that excludes the rich variety of offerings (provided at CAPA) will never meet the needs of ALL of our Pittsburgh students." So what's your point? Is this some sort of apology for canned curriculum, which you still must adhere to? Is the idea that hey, nothing is perfect, so this will do?
Please expound upon your points. I love deciphering cryptic prose as much as the next person, but the overall tone of your commentary seems to be looking down the nose in addressing others.
It is unfortunate that you felt the need to "go off" Hopefully, you will feel better when I say to you that I know that there are VERY good teachers in all of PPS high school. I know many of them. Let us just say that I will take on your challenge in a minute. I have taught (most of my career) in schools you mention (with success) and would be honored to take your place any day, any time,any place. "Be the thing that you want to see happen" is a philosophy I attempt to live. If you are at Westinghouse, let me know, and I will try to create an arrangement that will accommodate your suggestions.
P.S. You must BELIEVE you CAN DO it, or you will get the results you expect. Think about it . . . .
POSTSCRIPT: The "canned curriculum" is not something I would recommend as it currently exists. One size does not fit all____and limiting variety and options for students also limits the opportunities for them to excel.
Sir/Madam, that's hooey, and you know it. Most teachers love their jobs because of the kids. Most have dedicated their lives to moving kids forward. Most that I have dealt with have generally been surrogate parents as there has been no adult presence in the home. You continue to preach to the choir.
I don't know of any teacher who, despite what is being thrown at
them from administration, has thrown in the towel and said "impossible."
As I sit here and read your baloney, I'm taken aback by the comment about "going off." Sorry, not over you or anyone else who pretends to know better than those in the trenches. (And this is especially true of modern day PPS administrators who were largely failures in the classroom or found that their psyches just couldn't handle it. Pardon my broad brush) In examining the canned curricula, you make mention about a one-size-fits-all approach. That's not the problem. Teach kids how to think, not what to think. Inspire, don't indoctrinate. Most of us do that on a daily basis, whether we were "hand picked" or not, and we do it because we care about the kids.
I'll let your commentary about switching positions slide because I have little doubt that if this is the type of demeanor you would put forth to the average HS student in PPS--you know, the ones looked down upon and denied access to places like CAPA--you would make for a nice snack.
I would have serious doubts about you ever being in a classroom to begin with, other than for a learning walk or a quick look at a teacher's wall to ensure that certain posters are in place. Truly, your comments embarrass real teachers.
Truly, your comments embarrass real teachers.
While I admire your beliefs and share many if not most of your sentiments Old Timer, when you get all worked up and go on the attack,
insinuating that anyone who doesn't agree with you is an idiot or a liar or worse it doesn't help your cause.
Nor is this pattern a part of good teaching -- nor does it lead to or encourage learning.
If anything is going to change in the PPS for the better, we all need allies, not enemies of our own making.
It is agreed that dedicated teachers are the heart and soul of all good things that happen in schools____ teaching and learning in the classroom is the bottom line. Yes, "inspiring" students, "teaching them to THINK" for themselves, to resist "indoctrination" are qualities to be applied and applauded. Hopefully, teachers NEVER look down on ANY students, but see the potential of each and work to develop that potential.
One skill, important to teaching, is to distinguish facts from opinion/assumptions/"doubts."
Students learn much from teachers who model the "thinking" skills expected of them. As a teacher (not an administrator), it is evident to me that when we communicate respect for one another (teachers and students), model the skills for "thinking," and are "dedicated," as you have stated___success is at hand. Trusting that the year ahead will be a successful one for you and your students!
Thanks Anon 10:43 for posting the numbers.
I am not in the education business and therefore I am not capable of scientifically evaluating the PSSA results. Knee-jerk thoughts and questions include:
Could Carrick and other schools showing a more modest gain just be finally catching up a bit since they had farther to go toward proficiency?
How big a part did the principal play?
Allderdice and Brashear are our two largest high schools, could the slide they experienced be the result of being too large and therefore unable to deliver?
Was the teaching staff at Carrick just more adept at massaging the canned curriculum or did they have relationships with students where the kids wanted to do well for the teacher?
To 9:28:
Thanks for your interest!
I have the "numbers' for each year since 2002 in a Chart format; but did not know how to post it here. Just posting 2004 and 2009 appeared scattered as opposed to neatly charted.
As for the results over the eight years, there is more decline than improvement in PPS high schools given the steady rise in the PA target. Accountability for results began in 2003.
From 2002 to 2004 the PA target was 45%_____
from 2005 to 2005 to 2007 the target was 54%,____ from 2008 to 2010 the target is 63%.
In 2002 Allderdice (at 72.5% proficiency) was 28 pts. beyond the target,but has dropped to (65.5 in 2009) now only 2.5 pts. beyond the target. And since Allderdice (at 65.5%) is the only high school near the target (63%), the current progress of other high schools (with the exception of CAPA) is 20 to 40 pts. BELOW the target after 8 years of knowing what the standards are in very explicit terms.
The right Professional Development for teachers (and Principals) over these 8 years really should have put ALL of our PPS high schools beyond the 63% PA "proficiency" target___WITHOUT a DOUBT.
It is definitely and definitively DOABLE!
The PSSA standards/skills/assessments were created in 1997 and passed into law in 1999. Thus, schools in PA have had access to the standards/skills to be assessed since 1996. Accountability for achievement began in 2003 with an expectation of 45% "proficiency" in Reading. In 2002, with a PA "proficiency" target set at 45% the PPS High School proficiency rates were as follows:
2002 PA target___45%
Allderdice________72.5%
Brashear_________50.2%
Carrick___________41.2%
Oliver____________28.7%
Peabody__________21.7%
Perry_____________47.4%
Schenley__________45.8%
Westinghouse_____13.4%
As you can see in 2002 most PPS high schools
were achieving at or beyond the PA target of 45%. In the eight years since, there has been little progress and MOST have NOT moved toward the advancing target now at 63%____ as have the majority of schools in Pennsylvania.
(Compare the 2002 with the 2009 in the 11:02 AM post.)
P.S. If there is way to post the Excel Chart 2002-09, please advise.
The promise is not increasing enrollment, all projections site lower enrollment. 8/10 exceed expectations PSSA kids that are in PPS are or have left the district the past 2 years. The vast majority leave after 5th grade.
In 3 years we will have no money, federal and state help is seriously being reduced, Gates money, (which we have not matched funding for yet) will be gone. The teachers are all tied to test scores yet the central office administrative staff gets 10-15K bonuses. Huge overhead issues that everyone ignores.
We will be taken over by Broad resident's and Mark Roosevelt will be placed in another school district Eli Broad has his sights set on.
Nobody is thinking past 3 years and it is terrifying. This is a self serving political agenda and unless parents and the public take notice it will be a corporate take over of our district.
I was unclear. 8/10 of the kids at my kids school that we know, not district wide, and not a factual statistic.
Ha! Anon @ 11:11 - Thanks for the laugh..."The right Professional Development for teachers (and Principals) over these 8 years really should have put ALL of our PPS high schools beyond the 63% PA "proficiency" target___WITHOUT a DOUBT."
Professional development is not the reason that urban settings, including Pittsburgh, do not reach the proficiency standards. Granted, the professional development in PPS is usually poor. But, many teachers and administrators are continuously taking University classes or participating in some other type of professional activities that will make up for the poor PD in PPS.
Pittsburgh is not the exception when it comes to urban school districts not meeting the proficiency standard. The person or people who figure out how to overcome the issues that are pounding urban education will become very rich. Trust me when I tell you that our wanna-be superintendent with his Wal-Mart certification is trying to make a name for himself along with Johnny Tarka. Superintendent Mark would like nothing better use Pittsburgh as a stepping stone. Sorry to say, the direction they are leading this district in is not the solution - blaming teachers and insulting them by saying, "If we pay them more, they will work harder and the kids will perform better." No quality or quantity of professional development or merit pay is the solution for the problems facing urban education.
Look at Geoffrey Canada in Harlem.
http://www.hcz.org/home
One of the first things you see when looking at his website is, "family, community, health". Why? Because in urban education, you have to treat the whole child.
To draw this back to the subject of this particular blog - the Pittsburgh Promise is great. However many kids can get that money should take full advantage of it and good for them. What the public needs to realize is that many of the PPS students will never meet the requirements to get this money. They will not meet the requirements because of reasons NOT related to their teachers, their administrators, their schools. And, sadly, statistics show that some of the kids who will get the money will drop out of college early due to not being adequately prepared (we don't need to address the grading issues and curriculum issues here again - but we all know why).
And to end - Mark you made me laugh too when you said, "In my mind, Mark Roosevelt, as well as the board, the administration, the teachers, and all in and associated with PPS -- are on the same team as me." I am glad you could make me laugh since most of your posts make me pretty angry. I think that for the most part, the teachers and the parents are the team. Sometimes, administrators are as well - just depends on the administrator. Roosevelt has never been on the team of children, parents, or teachers. His only agenda is related to money. And, for the record, this is not the first time he has applied outside of the district. He has applied out many other times. I am telling you - we are a stepping stone for him. He has already stayed longer than anyone predicted. As soon as he gets a better opportunity, he is gone. That will not be a sad day for our community.
Ha! Anon @ 11:11 - Thanks for the laugh..."The right Professional Development for teachers (and Principals) over these 8 years really should have put ALL of our PPS high schools beyond the 63% PA "proficiency" target___WITHOUT a DOUBT."
Professional development is not the reason that urban settings, including Pittsburgh, do not reach the proficiency standards. Granted, the professional development in PPS is usually poor. But, many teachers and administrators are continuously taking University classes or participating in some other type of professional activities that will make up for the poor PD in PPS.
Pittsburgh is not the exception when it comes to urban school districts not meeting the proficiency standard. The person or people who figure out how to overcome the issues that are pounding urban education will become very rich. Trust me when I tell you that our wanna-be superintendent with his Wal-Mart certification is trying to make a name for himself along with Johnny Tarka. Superintendent Mark would like nothing better use Pittsburgh as a stepping stone. Sorry to say, the direction they are leading this district in is not the solution - blaming teachers and insulting them by saying, "If we pay them more, they will work harder and the kids will perform better." No quality or quantity of professional development or merit pay is the solution for the problems facing urban education.
Look at Geoffrey Canada in Harlem.
http://www.hcz.org/home
One of the first things you see when looking at his website is, "family, community, health". Why? Because in urban education, you have to treat the whole child.
To draw this back to the subject of this particular blog - the Pittsburgh Promise is great. However many kids can get that money should take full advantage of it and good for them. What the public needs to realize is that many of the PPS students will never meet the requirements to get this money. They will not meet the requirements because of reasons NOT related to their teachers, their administrators, their schools. And, sadly, statistics show that some of the kids who will get the money will drop out of college early due to not being adequately prepared (we don't need to address the grading issues and curriculum issues here again - but we all know why).
And to end - Mark you made me laugh too when you said, "In my mind, Mark Roosevelt, as well as the board, the administration, the teachers, and all in and associated with PPS -- are on the same team as me." I am glad you could make me laugh since most of your posts make me pretty angry. I think that for the most part, the teachers and the parents are the team. Sometimes, administrators are as well - just depends on the administrator. Roosevelt has never been on the team of children, parents, or teachers. His only agenda is related to money. And, for the record, this is not the first time he has applied outside of the district. He has applied out many other times. I am telling you - we are a stepping stone for him. He has already stayed longer than anyone predicted. As soon as he gets a better opportunity, he is gone. That will not be a sad day for our community.
The Harlem's Children's Zone appears to be wonderful project and is certainly providing for the needs of children____educational and otherwise. We could replicate that here in Pittsburgh with results that would astound since in PA there is real clarity about the "Thinking Skills" needed to do well academically and in life. (In future posts I will list those skills, specifically.) If teachers were aware of those skills and taught them situationally as well as textually across content areas (including art, music and phys ed) we would see significant academic and life skills improvement___in the first year anywhere from 16% to 25% (personally accomplished with school districts) to 35% improvement. Professional Development for teachers on how people learn and strategies for teaching PSSA and PSAT "THINKING SKILLS" would see immediate 'quantum' leaps. Let me show you the way at no cost to the district! Nothing ventured nothing gained. We have the knowledge, but not the process____most likely due to greed and self-agrandizement._____It is not "laugh"able!
Anon at 5:41, every year with the kids is a success. Working with children is never the problem. It's administration that washed out of the classroom that's the real obstacle. They were failed teachers and now have to determine what effective teaching is. How tragic.
As for you---I am sure I will see you in my school at some point in time, tagging along with all of the other "administrative types", seeking to find fault with a teacher who doesn't have the right bulletin boards or who dares stray from the script you have provided them.
And with this in mind, please note: I don't "attack" any poster here but will consistently take issue with any individual who wishes to either speak from an ivory tower or proselytize as if they have some higher enlightenment.
To any true teacher, it's about the kids. It's always about the kids, not the research, not the power tripping, not the idea of making more cash, and certainly not the ego.
You have total agreement when you say "its all about the kids"___ teaching the kids. One of the skills we need to teach our students is "distinguishing fact from opinion." Another is "citing the evidence." Good teachers never continue to offer erroneous opinions nor make false assumptions without any evidence to support them. Facts always have supporting documentation. Do the statements you are making and repeating have supporting evidence? Are they, indeed, FACTS? Absolutely NOT!
Anon at 11 a.m., be specific. Which comments are you complaining about? Having read your comments it occurs to me that you wouldn't know a "good teacher" if one bit you in the backside.
Let me be the first to bite!
Old Timer, pretty obvious this is an administrator shill that's popped on here to remind all teachers that they should be zombies that fit into her square peg. Pathetic.
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