PRIME+: The Pittsburgh Urban Systemic Project

School District Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) have made a strong commitment to, and significant progress in, establishing standards-based education. The greatest progress to date is in mathematics, partially due to the PRIME professional development project. Standards-based mathematics instruction has been fully implemented in 15% of the elementary and 36% of the middle schools, and at least partially implemented in almost all of them. The achievement gains in the high-implementation schools have shown impressive results. This model will lead to the implementation of standards-based mathematics education district-wide. In addition, the model is being used in implementing standards-based reform in science. USP support will provide resources needed to (a) bring mathematics reform to scale in all PPS elementary and middle schools as well as up to the high schools; (b) fully engage in implementing science reform, using the model employed in mathematics; and (c) leverage additional resources to enable the extension of the PPS' current success far more quickly. The ultimate goal of the USP is to establish standard-based mathematics and science education systemically, so that all PPS classrooms and schools effectively support all students in meeting high standards.