Armed with education data from the 2023-2024 school year, one nonprofit is urging Pittsburgh Public Schools to redesign district schools so that students are less racially and economically segregated.
Last school year, 82% of students at the district’s high-poverty schools — where more than 75% of students come from low-income households — were students of color, according to A+ Schools’ 2024 Report to the Community.
White students, meanwhile, made up 53% of the students in buildings where less than 50% of students are economically disadvantaged. James Fogarty, executive director of A+ Schools, said the district is more segregated now than it was in the 1980s, when Pittsburgh Public Schools undertook a massive desegregation effort.
“If Brown v. Board of Education is to mean anything, then we need to do the work to make it meaningful,” Fogarty said. “Because we know Black and brown students and white students aren't served well by being in schools that are totally segregated.”
A+ Schools’ annual publication, released Monday, provides city families with data on school equity and student absenteeism within each of PPS’ 50 traditional schools, as well as the district’s center for academically gifted students.
Fogarty pointed to the Pittsburgh Gifted Center as one subsect of the district that remains deeply segregated. While Black and economically disadvantaged students made up 50% and 70% of district students, respectively, they represent just 17% and 26% of students identified as gifted.
Meanwhile, 65% of gifted students are white. Two-thirds of students identified as gifted attended just five of the 50 PPS schools. Fogarty said those five schools serve a student body that’s more affluent than the district average.
“So that's 10% of our regular schools and we have a whole center for them,” he said. “We got to rethink what we're doing in terms of opportunities here.”
Fogarty said a model used by schools like Grandview PreK-5 and Dilworth PreK-5, in which gifted students are provided additional learning opportunities within their own building rather than a separate site, would more equitably distribute district resources.
It’s the same strategy proposed by consultants at Education Resource Strategies (ERS), the Boston-based firm that spent months developing a plan to “rightsize” the district’s footprint and better serve students.
In addition to closing 10 school buildings and reconfiguring many others, ERS recommended that the district integrate its gifted and talented programs into its neighborhood K-5 and 6-8 schools. That way, advanced opportunities would be available to more students and closer to home.
District leaders announced last month that no school closures would take effect until after the 2025-2026 school year, allowing them more time to assess the feasibility of such a plan.
PPS assistant superintendent Shawn McNeil called the report a “call to action.”
“I encourage everyone to engage with this report, reflect on its findings, and join us in building a more equitable and thriving educational system for all Pittsburgh students,” McNeil said.
Billy Hileman, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers union president, stressed that the district is at a critical crossroads that must be addressed through family engagement, especially in light of declining district enrollment. PPS has lost 2,895 K-12 students since 2019, while public charter schools have grown by 22% in the same time.
“We have to do the work going forward. We're at a crossroads right now in Pittsburgh Public Schools,” Hileman said.
Small but significant improvements in school attendance
Much of A+ Schools’ work is focused on reducing chronic absenteeism within the district. Chronically absent students miss 10% or more school days each year, equivalent to roughly two days of learning each month.
During the 2023-2024 school year, 32% of PPS students were considered chronically absent, down from 34% the year before.
“That means we're seeing more kids showing up to school regularly than happened two years ago,” Fogarty said.
Fogarty attributed the progress to community partnerships working to eliminate the barriers that prevent kids from getting to school, as well as the increasing number of families, teachers and staff prioritizing school attendance.
EveryDay Labs, in partnership with A+ Schools and PPS, sends families text nudges to let them know how many school days their child has missed and offers support. Of the 12,421 students whose families received one or more nudges during the 2023-2024 school year, 60% improved their attendance.
So far this school year, 30.2% of students have been considered chronically absent, according to district attendance data. The share of students attending 90% or more days of school is the highest it's been in recent years.
Fogarty said all families should strive for a 95% attendance rate or better.
“It's going to take hard work. It's going to take communication. It's also going to take probably some significant systems work on the health side, housing side and transportation to make that all work,” he said. “But it's possible, it's doable when we look at the overall numbers.”
