Pittsburgh Public Schools administrators say they are dedicating more time to addressing student learning outcomes, armed with data and a renewed focus on transparency.
Superintendent Wayne Walters told school board members Tuesday night that the district is using the latest third-grade reading scores to reevaluate how schools teach the subject.
Strategies include placing literacy coaches in district elementary schools, identifying and sharing best practices across buildings, and differentiating student instruction to address ongoing inequities.
Third-grade reading proficiency sat at 46.2% this year, 1.6% less than in 2023, though racial disparities in progress persist. White students’ scores increased by nearly three percentage points in the last year, while scores among Black students, English learners and students with disabilities declined by roughly the same amount.
Research shows that if a student isn’t reading proficiently by the third grade, they are more likely to remain behind.
“We've had some schools that have had stronger success with African-American students over white students, and so we want to learn from those spaces,” Walters said. “And we understand that although it's third grade, there was something that was happening in first grade and second grade that's building foundational skills.”
Walters said the dip in reading scores is likely related to the district’s decision to adopt a new reading curriculum at the start of last school year. The transition required elementary school educators to switch to materials from Open Court Reading, which uses strategies supported by a body of research known as the science of reading.
“People are learning new routines — they're learning new information, they're learning new processes of how to do things,” Walters told WESA. “And so we expect a dip, but it doesn't mean that we abandon it.”
The district aims to bring third-grade reading scores up to 54% “proficient” by 2027. Walters said the district is trying to build the capacity for sustained growth by better equipping teachers with the resources and training to do so.
How PPS plans to sustain reading proficiency throughout the summer is yet to be determined. Administrators announced earlier this month that they are not including Summer B.O.O.S.T — the district's free summer learning program for grades K-7 — in the 2025 budget.
During a Nov. 4 meeting, chief financial officer Ron Joseph said a data analysis of the program couldn’t identify any significant impact on student achievement, in part due to attendance and enrollment challenges.
PPS has relied on federal pandemic relief to fund Summer B.O.O.S.T. since 2021, but those funds expired at the start of this school year. With a $20.8 million budget deficit already expected for 2025, administrators opted not to allocate the additional $2.4 million needed to operate the program.
“If we're not getting that return on investment, it causes us to pause and to reevaluate what we're doing so that we can actually bring it back even better,” Walters said. “It might not be under the same name, but really trying to do what we can to advance student outcomes.”
Walters said these strategies are a symbol of the district’s new commitment to governing its schools through accountability, transparency and data-informed decisions.
This emphasis comes just over a month after city controller Rachel Heisler released a report urging the district’s school board to improve internal communication and data-sharing, review and streamline policies, and adopt a governance model that clearly defines responsibilities and desired outcomes.
Heisler criticized the district’s “unusually high per-student expenditures.” During the 2021-2022 school year, total district expenditures were equivalent to $28,071 per student, compared to the statewide average of $18,383.
“A high level of student spending is not necessarily a negative indicator if the spending is intentional and resulting in improved outcomes,” her report stated. “In PPS’s case, it has been the unintentional byproduct of several factors.”
The school board approved a $100,000 contract earlier this year for coaching services from the Council of Great City Schools, which works with urban school systems nationwide.
School board president Gene Walker said last month that the process would “not just improve our governance, but also build a student outcome-focused attention to the work we do.”
Walters said the shift in reading education reflects the core of the district’s efforts rather than a reaction to political pressure.
“This is the beginning of a cultural shift for us to really spend our energy and the majority of our time dedicated to student outcomes and sharing that transparently,” he said.
