Funds for Literacy

City schools to use stimulus funds for literacy program
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

City school officials are planning to use economic stimulus money to advance a key component of their high-school improvement campaign -- making sure students arrive in ninth grade ready for ninth-grade work.

The Pittsburgh Public Schools will receive an estimated $43 million in stimulus money over the next two school years, and Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said he'll seek the school board's approval to use much of the money for programs to boost middle-grade literacy.

Mr. Roosevelt said he will present the plan to the board April 14.

He said it likely would have two components, "interventions" during the regular school day and a summer program blending academics and extracurricular activities. The goal is to target students scoring basic or below basic on the reading portion of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.

Last year, 45.8 percent of the district's sixth-graders scored proficient or advanced in reading, and 55 percent of seventh-graders and 66.6 percent of eighth-graders did so. The state target was 63 percent proficient or advanced in each grade.

In sixth and seventh grades last year, the district's math scores were better than its reading scores.

Mr. Roosevelt said schools could design individual interventions for struggling students during the school year. He said the district would try to lure students to summer programs by blending class work with activities ranging from chess to sports to theater.

"I think, in the summer, kids are entitled to some fun," Mr. Roosevelt said. Some extracurricular activities may be directly related to literacy, he said, while others may send the general message that "hard work overcomes obstacles."

The plan drew support from Keith Kondrich, executive director of Beginning with Books Center for Early Literacy in East Liberty, who said an investment in "literacy at any level is money well spent."

Focusing on children as old as 8, Beginning with Books provides guest readers for two city schools and coordinates "Raising Readers" clubs for parents, among other initiatives. Mr. Kondrich said he was not aware of community programs that focused on middle-grade literacy.

Mr. Roosevelt said he might ask nonprofit groups for proposals to run summer activities.

Because of the planning involved, the summer component may not start until 2010. When stimulus money expires, Mr. Roosevelt said, the district might apply for a federal grant to continue the program.

The district has a 35 percent dropout rate, and officials fear some students quit high school because they start ninth grade behind and never catch up. Enhanced student counseling and the district's move to schools configured for grades 6 through 12 are two of a handful of district initiatives designed to help bridge the gap between the middle-grade and high-school years.

Joe Smydo can be reached at jsmydo@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1548.

Coach Sherrie says: When are these districts, states, etc. (i.e. the people who set the policy) going to learn that the way to move our students to higher literacy levels is to allow them to choose what they read. With computers and on-line porgrams, students should be able to take a test on any book they choose to read.