Rising up: Stories from our schools

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we devote the entire “Rising up” section of the report this year to exploring how the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and the community are supporting students’ needs.

Supporting Pittsburgh’s students for a new day

By Faith Schantz

Across the country, researchers and educators have begun to take stock of the harm the Covid-19 pandemic has caused school-aged children. Students’ mental health, which affects every aspect of their lives, is widely considered to be in crisis. The release of results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, given in a sampling of districts, showed historic losses. A RAND Education study described how virtual schooling fell short, especially in districts that kept buildings closed for long periods, like Pittsburgh. Schools that were fully remote for most of the 2020-21 school year reported less instructional time, fewer completed assignments, and more student absences compared to schools that re-opened sooner.

In Pittsburgh, the city’s most vulnerable children are likely to attend the Pittsburgh Public Schools. In the 2021-22 school year, 66% of its 19,160 K-12 students lived in poverty, and 69% were Black or brown. Twenty-one percent received special education services (excluding gifted education), higher than district averages for Pennsylvania and the nation. All of these groups suffered disproportionately from the pandemic. And it’s not over: Allegheny County recorded more than 27,000 Covid-19 cases among school-aged children during the last school year.

We asked: How did students in the city schools fare during the pandemic? And what is in place to support them?

Here, we take a close look at some of the district’s support systems—what they are, how they are intended to function, how students themselves fit into the picture, and how parents can be involved. In the main story and in three snapshots, we consider how the wider community has stepped up to meet students’ social and academic needs with one-on-one and small group tutoring. In the graphics throughout this section, we address how students are doing on key indicators of well-being and academic achievement. (For more on where the district stands, see the executive summary).

READ ON TO FIND OUT:

• The view from Central Office - What the district’s core support processes and interventions are, and how Superintendent Wayne Walters plans to improve them

• Social and Emotional Learning - How district staff and teachers create social and emotional learning opportunities, and what students have said about themselves on surveys

• The Student Assistance Program - How the Student Assistance Program addresses students’ well-being

• Superintendent Walters on how teachers can best support students

• Tutoring - How the wider community has created tutoring opportunities in response to the crisis of missed learning time

• Snapshot of tutoring in action - Latino Community Center

• Snapshot of tutoring in action - Ready to Learn

• A parent’s perspective on tutoring

• Special Education - The view from Langley PreK-8

• Where to find resources to support your child

• How to help your child with reading and math at home

• Helping children in Pittsburgh - What you can do