While nearly 40% of third graders in Pittsburgh Public Schools performed well on their state math exams last year, staggering racial disparities remain.
Math scores in the 2023-2024 school year showed that 39.6% of third graders scored proficient or above. That’s a minor improvement from the 39.3% posted by third graders the year before, but nearly twice the percentage of students who performed proficiently when the district was conducting online learning at the height of the pandemic.
Still, the district’s performance lags behind the state average of 51.4%. And gaps between the district’s Black and white students have continued to widen. Two-thirds of white students tested as proficient, while less than one-quarter of Black students did.
Superintendent Wayne Walters told school board members at Tuesday’s education committee meeting that closing the gap between those groups of students must be the district’s focus.
“It's still troubling to me that [the disparity] exists, but also it gives me more of a moral imperative to be very focused on those students,” Walters said.
Tuesday’s meeting marked the third goal-monitoring presentation the district has given school board members in the past three months. The previous two presentations focused on high school graduation rates and third-grade reading scores.
While third graders performed better overall on their reading exams -- 46.2% percent showed proficiency -- similar racial disparities appear in each subject. The reading gap was slightly smaller, with just under one-third of Black students scoring proficient on their reading exams, compared to nearly three-quarters of white students.
“Even though some may feel that we should just teach to the middle, this data warrants a different approach that has to be focused on making improvements for African American students in a majority-African American school district,” Walters continued.
During each of the goal-monitoring sessions, administrators have unveiled strategies to boost student achievement. For math proficiency, Walters said efforts begin with increasing the amount of time teachers spend in professional learning focused on curricula and collaboration.
Starting this school year, the district has implemented a new K-8 math curriculum, Illustrative Mathematics. Walters said that while an initial professional learning session on the new materials was well attended in August, participation has since dipped.
Teachers are stretched for time and resources: Nearly half of third-grade educators are responsible for multiple subject areas, and one in five teach multiple grade levels. Administrators are developing an ongoing series of support for school leaders and teachers to unpack each unit in the new program.
Walters said the district’s expectation is “rooted in us teaching teachers first,” including when it comes to helping students develop confidence in math.
“So it's not an expectation that we have that all our teachers arrive knowing how to build positive math identity,” he said. “[T]he commitment that we're making is to create professional learning spaces where those things are modeled.”
Walters said student surveys show that while K-2 students are often confident in their abilities, that diminishes as students enter third grade and beyond.
District leaders also highlighted the way in which schools will teach families how to help students work through word problems by reading through them three times.
Board vice president Tracey Reed said the district must take responsibility for practices “prohibiting our African-American students’ success.”
“When we say [students] are not doing well, then somehow that belongs to them,” she said. “When we talk about our practices and the way adults are engaging with students, then the issue becomes us and the fact that we need to change our practices.”
