Nearly 84% of all Pittsburgh Public Schools seniors are on track to graduate this school year.
While the projected graduation readiness rate falls slightly below district administrators’ goal of 84.4%, superintendent Wayne Walters told school board members this week he plans to bring more students up to speed through better progress monitoring and mentorship for students who are struggling.
“We also want to build some professional development about what the mentorship process could look like to really encourage and support students in attaining their goals,” Walters said during Wednesday’s education committee meeting.
While four-year graduation rates have yet to be calculated for the 2023-2024 school year, the district has shown steady growth across all groups in recent years. White students, Black students and students with disabilities all saw their respective shares of all students graduating within four years of entering high school improve between 2021 and 2023.
During that same time, the district’s overall four-year graduation rate increased from 81.5% to 86.1%, exceeding the district’s 2023 target of 82.9% and surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
District leaders attributed this progress to their financial investments to reduce the student-to-counselor ratios at PPS high schools last school year. The district has yet to reach the 250:1 ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association, but PPS has reduced its average ratio from 699:1 to 350:1.
The Pittsburgh Promise also employs coaches in four high schools — Carrick, Milliones, Perry, and Westinghouse — to help students prepare for graduation and beyond. Walters said there have been multiple conversations with the Promise leaders to ensure the coaching is sustained after the scholarship program sunsets with the Class of 2028.
“That adds an extra layer of support in those schools, and also the counselors have support in trying to support [students] with efficiency,” Walters said.
The superintendent also noted by the end of the 2023-2024 school year, 100% of PPS students had attained the credits needed to graduate under Pennsylvania’s Pathways to Graduation requirements, which allows students more flexible options for demonstrating postsecondary preparedness.
But despite widespread progress, racial and economic disparities have continued to persist. The graduation rate for Black students in 2023 sat at 83.3%, compared to 91% among the district’s white students.
The graduation rate among economically disadvantaged students was nearly 10 percentage points lower than that of their more affluent peers, and English language learners experienced a slight decline.
The overall graduation rate for 2023 also remained slightly lower than the state average of 87.5%.
“In many instances, we wait until they’re seniors to intervene, and that cannot be our method,” Walters said. “We have to start from the beginning of ninth grade.”
Walters said administrators are now working to develop multiple strategies to level the playing field for students. Those include standardizing communication and engagement with families about graduation expectations across all high schools; creating a structured process to document student progress and interventions; and mentorship targeted to African American students, English language learners and students with disabilities.
Board member Tracey Reed urged district leaders to recognize in their approach the forces beyond school walls that affect student success.
“One of the things that's really hard is that we have to be upfront about the fact that there are not even playing fields and that there are all kinds of forces that are working for and against certain groups of people,” she said.
