Pittsburgh city middle / high schools? (Progress, Liberty: transfer, neighborhoods, magnet schools)

[pghcelt]

I'm looking for advice and information on City of Pittsburgh middle schools and high schools -- and would particularly love feedback from anyone who has a child at the Science and Technology Academy or Obama International Baccalaureate.

Our child is now in a public magnet school in the city, but we're looking to make a transition after 5th grade (this seems to be the norm in our school). With all the changes in the city's school configuration, I'm finding it hard to get current information on programs that are good, especially for a kid who loves being challenged in math and science.

We'd like to stay in the public school system and in the city if we can -- we've been able to make it work so far -- but maybe we're being unrealistic as we move into middle and high school? Are we missing schools we should be looking at?

I've searched the forum for recent discussions on city middle / high schools, but wasn't able to find much. Thanks for any experience or information you can share.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

I went to a magnet middle school (West Liberty, it isn't around anymore) and it was absolutely fantastic. If magnet schools these days are anything like that then you should have no worries.

High school however was a completely different story. I went to Carrick High (graduated in 2002) and it literally was a 4 year prison sentence. I do not recommend our public high school systems in the city at all.

[Jrn14]

ATC....

Carrick class of 2001....

I probs know you ...

I didn't think Carrick was that bad... I was in PSP classes and I thought they were well handled and maintained... I did have some mainstream classes and kids were bad, but I never felt unsafe or any more pressure than normal peer pressure to act out. I didn't think there were that many fights or disruptions, but I heard it's gotten a lot worse since Mr. K pulled out.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pghcelt

I'm looking for advice and information on City of Pittsburgh middle schools and high schools -- and would particularly love feedback from anyone who has a child at the Science and Technology Academy or Obama International Baccalaureate.

As I assume you know, those are both relatively new schools (they opened in the fall of 2009, so this is their second year), and they started with only a partial set of grades. Accordingly, people with direct experience might be a little scarce.

[Sideblinded]

Sci tech only accepts 50 kids per year grades 6-8. It is a lottery so you can't pin your hopes on that. PPS has not released the PSSA results from last yr so I am not sure how Obama is doing. I know some kids that are going to Sterritt, and so far no problems.

Things keep changing and shifting, it is hard to keep up.

Eta: We did not get into Sci Tech.

[pghcelt]

Thanks for the responses. Sideblinded, we've heard some good things about Sterrett as well. Do you have a sense of where those kids go after that?

Sci-Tech, Obama IB and CAPA all made Adequate Yearly Progress on last year's PSSAs. I found the most recent results here:

http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/14311059122...ool-Status.pdf

AYP isn't a very high bar, I know, but it stunned me that they were the only high schools in the city to do it.

Based on the number of available "slots" per grade level in those three schools (according to the magnet materials online),that means that only about 350 of the 2000 ninth graders in the city system will be able to be at a school that made AYP.

[Sideblinded]

Most kids from Sterrett go to Alderdice. With the new east side reconfiguration I am not sure what will happen. If you live in Colfax or Minadeo area you are can assume your child will be able to attend Alderdice. I do not know the other zone neighborhoods. If you live in another high school zone you won't have that choice. The only high school that made AYP is CAPA, so the federal transfer issue does not apply. Obama is moving to Peabody in a few years which is causing transportation issues for a lot of families.

We went private this year and are waiting to see how this all shakes out.

Eta, thank you for that link. The "best" non magnet school Alderdice is in corrective action. That is scary.

[scrapp]

Originally Posted by Sideblinded

Eta, thank you for that link. The "best" non magnet school Alderdice is in corrective action. That is scary.

I don't know the details about Allderdice, but the AYP thing may not be that scary. The No Child Left Behind law is structured so that if ANY one "subgroup" misses the target then the whole school fails to make AYP.

For example, last year Colfax K-8 did not make AYP. Why? Because one group of special ed students (I forget which grade) didn't make high enough scores on the PSSA. All the other subgroups (White, African American, Free/Reduced Lunch, etc.) hit the targets, but because this one subgroup of IEP/special ed students didn't, the whole school was marked as failing (i.e. not making "AYP")...

[BrianTH]

By the way, the general trend in that chart as you scan right to left (older, 2007, to current, 2010) is quite positive, particularly in the lower-grade schools. So that's encouraging for the City schools, and hopefully all the additional changes they are making help carry that progress through to the higher grades.

[Sideblinded]

I want to be more impressed, but I don't see a lot to get fired up about. I understand NCLB, (it is unfair, and ridiculous.) but the same principals applied to previous numbers. No balloons or a party this year regarding the PSSA results. They have been buried, and PR'd into percentage data, no real numbers being published. Does anyone know what the enrollment is this year, has anyone asked?

I thought the promise was going to increase it, but I have not read about any enrollment increases.

I fear PPS has fallen into NTCLB/No Testing Company Left Behind.