2024 Rising up: Stories from our schools

The “Rising up” section of this report moves beyond the numbers to tell the stories of schools and programs where students are experiencing success. Our goal is not to profile them as “exceptional,” but rather to share their learning.

Again this year, the issue underlying the stories is the crisis of student absenteeism. At A+ Schools, we look at attendance from two angles: how families and communities can work together to get students to school, and how schools can become places where students want to be. In these stories, we focus on the school side of the equation. Specifically, we asked, what are district staff members and external partners doing to make learning more engaging for students, to prepare more students for college, and to help more students become proficient readers?

Read on to find out how:

• Staff at Pittsburgh Perry High School and Northside partners are working together to engage students through projects, with the potential for deep, sustained learning

• Teachers at the Pittsburgh Gifted Center facilitate student-centered project-based learning for students identified as gifted

• The Justice Scholars Institute at the University of Pittsburgh works with teachers at Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy 6-12, Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12, and Perry High School to provide students with challenging college-level classes in their schools and a pathway to college

• The district’s new approach to teaching reading is playing out at Pittsburgh West Liberty PreK-5 and Pittsburgh Westwood PreK-5

• The Learning Disabilities Association of PA works with other nonprofits to provide multisensory tutoring in reading for children with dyslexia and others

We thank everyone who participated.