Haas Education Leadership Case Competition: Pittsburgh Public Schools

1. Haas Education Leadership Case Competition:Pittsburgh Public Schools Harvard University February 13, 2010

2. Today, too many of Pittsburgh’s students are unprepared for college and careers Student academic performance is not meeting expectations Students are not prepared to take advantage of Pittsburgh Promise Grade 11 Performance(percent of students proficient or advanced) 2008 Promise Awards(Note: 2008 GPA requirement of 2.0) District goal of 80% higher degree attainment for high school graduates 1,845 GPA <2.0 GPA >2.0 757 Source: Haas Education Leadership Case Competition, Pittsburgh Public Schools, 2010.

3. OCT Classroom Family Out of Classroom Time (OCT) can be better utilized to support college readiness OCT is one element of student success Many organizations already work with students during OCT School programs Afterschool programs Summer programs Businesses and non-profits Source: PPS Summer Dreamers Academy, Education Committee Presentation (2009)

4. A successful OCT strategy will be neither highly centralized nor simply visionary Direct Management Shared Rhetoric • Single entity directly controls all organizations • Tight regulation of operations • Strict accountability • EXAMPLE: Garbage collection contractors • Voluntary agreement on broad themes, or a marketing campaign • Little or no shared operational expectations • Few or no accountability mechanisms • EXAMPLE: “Make Poverty History” Best strategy for Pittsburgh is a middle ground Pathways to the Promise strategy will combine the best of both: sufficient space for innovation, while ensuring aligned agreement 4

5. 1 All students will be encouraged and challenged to go to college 2 All students who want to go to college will receive practical support at each step of the preparation process 3 All students will have conversations about their futures with caring, trusted adults 4 All families will receive the information they need to help their students plan for the future Guiding Principles can create a shared vision in the community Suggested language for Guiding Principles

6. Action is needed in four areas for implementation 1 2 Provide a roadmap forstudents to reach the Promise Understand thedifferences instudents’ needs Create capacity tomanage andsupport partners 4 3 Leverage partners’ strengthsand capabilities

7. Provide stronger and earlier instructions to navigate Pathways to the Promise 1 Aspiration is not enough Students need help meeting milestones Enrollment rate of academically qualified students meeting milestone by start of senior year • Early communication upon entering high school helps students begin college path • Personalized roadmap for students • iEnroll application • Quick Wins • Partner with H&R block to offer FAFSA application assistance to all • 28% of low-income students haven’t heard of the FAFSA • Flex funds to help students pay for SAT tests Yes No “…Considerable evidence of low-income youths with high aspirations and high valuations of collegefailing to clear seemingly minor hurdles in the [college going] process…” Christopher Avery Harvard Department of Economics Note: Students in program studied had min 3.0 GPA and were looking for admission to 4-year BA programs in MA Source: Christopher Avery & Thomas Kane, Student Perceptions of College Opportunities: The Boston COACH Program; Bettinger, Eric, Increasing Postsecondary Enrollment among Low-Income Families… The FAFSA H&R Block Experiment

8. Understand students’ differentiated needs to tailor approaches for support 2 A process is needed to identify students’ needs Targeted approaches to students’ barriers are needed • Guidance Counselors take the lead on assessing students when they arrive to construct Student Profile • Academic Review • Past GPA performance • PSSA performance • Attendance/Truancy • Soft skills and home life review • Disciplinary history • Federal surveys • Take-home surveys • Implement a system to capture and track this student data (i.e. Pearson’s PowerSchool) Provide academic supports Provide stretch goals to reach full potential High Soft Skills Strength Early and intense intervention tobuild aspirations Communicate benefits; support milestone attainment Low Low High Academic Strength Note: Excellent student survey samples can be found from Coalition for Community Schools and Harlem Children Zone to understand student readiness and risks Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte currently administers placement tests to early high school students to determine academic areas of focus before graduation 8 Source: Focusing on Results in Promise Neighborhoods: Recommendations for the Federal Initiative, The Center for the Study of Social Policy

9. Identify partners’ capabilities to leverage their strengths in supporting students 3 Barrier Potential solutions Lack of knowledge of existing programs • Create a web-based directory of CBOs and their programs to help parents and teachers identify opportunities for students • Utilize neighborhood, parent, and political networks to spread the word about Promise opportunities. • Create buy-in of Guiding Principles by community partners • CBO’s sign agreement to adhere to Guiding Principles for access to school facilities and the online directory • Set up a Promise Advisory Board of partners to create buy-in • Require Promise recipients/alumni to invest in community • Work with targeted CBOs and Summer Programs • Could be extended in the form of a ‘Promise Corps’ Lack of alignmentwith Pittsburgh Promise Lack of open communication between stakeholders • Formalize communication between committed partners • Secure agreement from Colleges, CBOs, Summer Schools and Business to Guiding Principles will embed a consistent vision • Highlight the benefits to colleges of supporting Promise success • Challenge local colleges to run summer schools and mentoring programs • Support colleges in advertising to students early and often in high school 9 Source: PPS; International case studies

10. There are innovative interventions that Pittsburgh can implement with partners 3 Math in sports clubs Results focused mentoring • Playing for Success is a British CBO which runs homework clubs at urban sports venues • Literacy, numeracy and IT with a sporting focus • Target underperforming high school students • Independent evaluations show significant improvement in numeracy test scores and self-confidence particularly for male minority students • Steelers, Panthers, Penguins could be partners • College Opportunity and Career Help (COACH) links students from Harvard to Boston Public Schools • Focus is on providing assistance to students in preparing for and applying to college (e.g., SAT test prep, application form completion) • From the outset undertook rigorous monitoring and evaluation to test impact on college application rates • Results focused approach could be extended to existing University of Pittsburgh program Summer school at colleges Preparing parents • Parent University is a Boston Public School year-long training and education program for parents • Provides workshops (including full day Saturday sessions) to help parents understand how they can help their children with homework and how to understand the college application process • Supports parents to develop a network that can be a friendly challenge to poorly performing schools • Could easily be extended to PPS • New York’s Youth Development Initiative has found that students are more likely to complete the application process for college if they have been on campus for an extended period • City University of New York runs month long intensive summer schools on its campus which focus on college preparation as well as after school classes • The same could be implemented by Carnegie Mellon as well as community colleges Source: UK Department for Education and Skills, Widening Participation in Higher Education (2003); Playing for Success; Boston Public Schools Acceleration Agenda (2009); Youth Development Institute, College Access and Success for Young Adult Learners: A Research Summary for Schools and Programs

11. Create management capacity to facilitate networking across multiple stakeholders 4 Considerations Recommended approaches School personnel lacks bandwidth to manage additional responsibilities • Create a Community Coordination Officer (CCO) • 1 CCO for every 2 high schools • Strengthen relationship between CBOs and schools • Provide feedback to the district on program effectiveness • Introduce volunteer “Parent Coordinators” in all high schools • Responsible for daily tasks (lunch duty, dismissal, etc) to free up Guidance Counselors/Social Worker to focus on Promise support • Provide incentives for community partners to align with Promise • Allocate 150K to “CBO Innovation Prize” for effective strategies focus on college-readiness • Annual Parent and Student Surveys to evaluate CBO Promise support programs • Publicize survey response on PPS website and in CBO Directory (i.e. “Did CBO provide college tour?”) Manage balance of CBO autonomy and commitment to Promise Pittsburgh Promise alumni base is a resource • Establish “Promise Corps” • Use Teach for America 2-year commitment model • Top 10% of graduating class eligible for greater school loan repayment • Vigorously develop relationships with community partners and commitment to Promise 11 Source: PPS; International case studies

12. Management tools will guide implementation Marketing & Communication Plan Dashboard for Evaluation Suggested Budget Implementation Timeline 12 12

13. PPS should continue to build upon the Pathways to Promise brand Continue to build on brand momentum Public Families CBOs • Celebrate early successes • Advertise student success stories • Challenge businesses to partner with the Promise • Market Guiding Principles to develop awareness and support • Advertise ‘Parent College’ • “For our partners” link on the web with • Guiding Principles • CCO Contact information

14. PPS should establish a monthly dashboard to track how it is delivering on the Promise Enrollment readiness Promise readiness 12th Grade iEnroll checklist completion Current GPAs • Dashboards should be created at a District, CCO and school level • Data on CBO performance should be drawn from a bi-annual survey of students • An upgraded IT system should link with the iEnroll student checklist to track performance against key barriers to enrolment Target: 80% >2.5 GPA Target: 75% CBO survey response from 11th Grade Current attendance Target: 80% >90% attendance 75% 50% 35% 85% 14

15. PPS can have real impact for $1m a year

16. PPS should define a workplan for timely and effective implementation Task by Action Area Spring ‘10 Summer ‘10 2010 - 2011 2011 - 2012 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 • Provide Roadmap for students • Introduce Parent University • Develop iEnroll data system with guidance counselor monitoring • Implement iEnroll data system • Determine students needs • Collect student data • Design Student Profile document • Leverage partners’ strengths • Create advisory board • Develop ‘Guiding Principles’ • Host a call to action for CBOs • Formalize college relationships • Finalize CBO directory • Pilot Promise Corps Program • Roll out Promise Corps Program • Build capacity to manage • Roosevelt meet with principles • Define CCO role and recruiting • Provide intensive training for guidance counselors 16

17. 1 Seek feedback from other members of your PPS team. Does the strategy need adjusting given their expertise? 2 Define your top 2-3 stakeholders among Pittsburgh’s CBOs, colleges and businesses. Would they be appropriate Advisory Board members? 3 Review Prof. Chris Avery’s paper on COACH in Boston, the Youth Development Institute’s paper on College Access and Success in New York City and other cited resources. Are there further lessons to learn from the most successful attempts to tackle this issue? 4 Draw up list of potential additional funders (e.g., Broad Foundation, Tiger Foundation). Could Pathways to the Promise be pitched to them as a trial program for the nation? Next Steps: What are you going to do when you get back to the office?

18. Q&A Questions?

19. BACKUP

20. Recommended Sources (1 of 2) • Helping Students Prepare • “Paving the Way for Success in High School and Beyond:The Importance of Preparing Middle School Students for the Transition to Ninth Grade“, Jean Baldwin Grossman and Siobhan M. Cooney http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/269_publication.pdf • “The Case for School-Based Integration of Services: Changing the Ways Students, Families and Communities Engage With Their Schools”, Jean Baldwin Grossman and Zoua M. Vanghttp://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/267_publication.pdf • City of New York Youth Development Institute • “College Access and Success for Young Adult Learners: A Research Summary for Schools and Programs.” http://www.ydinstitute.org/resources/publications/CollegeAccess(YouthDevelopmentInstitute).pdf • “Building a Better Bridge: Helping Young Adults Enter and Succeed in College.” http://www.ydinstitute.org/resources/publications/TheDreamofCollege(YouthDevelopmentInstitute).pdf • Boston Public Schools • “Acceleration Agenda 2009-2014: A Five-Year Strategic Direction to transform the Boston Public Schools.”http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/agenda • “The Effects of College Counseling on High-Achieving, Low-Income Students: Results of a Pilot Study with a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Avery, C., Sept, 2009. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/cavery/counselor%20paper%20september%2016%202009.pdf • “Student Perceptions of College Opportunities: The Boston COACH Program”, Avery, C., and Kane, Thomas. In College Choices: the Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay for it, Caroline Hoxby, Ed. University of Chicago Press, Sept 2004. http://www.hks.harvard.edu/fs/cavery/Student%20Perceptions%20of%20College%20Opportunities.pdf • United Kingdom • “Widening participation in higher education”, Department for Education and Skills. 2003http://www.dius.gov.uk/higher_education/~/media/publications/E/EWParticipation

21. Recommended Sources (2 of 2) • Afterschool Programs/Summer Schools • National Dropout Prevention Center/Network: Summary of research on benefit of after school programming www.droupoutprevention.org/effstrat/after_school_opps • Children’s Aid Societywww.childrensaidsociety.org/TA • Playing for Successhttp://www.playingforsuccessonline.org.uk/ • COACH http://www.communityservice.harvard.edu/programs/coach-college-opportunity-and-career-help • Boston Public Schools Parent University http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/node/3781 • CUNY Summer School http://www.lagcc.cuny.edu/academics/precollege/ • Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Scholars Program • http://www.seo-usa.org/Scholars_Overview • The FAFSA • “Increasing Postsecondary Enrollment Among Low Income Families: A Project to Improve Access to College Information and Financial Aid” Bettinger E. et al, Jan 2009. http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~longbr/FAFSA_Project_-_Bettinger_Long_Oreopoulos_-_Description_1-09.pdf • “FAFSA Experiment Boosts College Going.” Lederman, Doug. Inside Higher Ed, Sept 23, 2009. http://www.nber.org/papers/w15361.pdf • “College Grants on a Postcard: A Proposal for Simple and Predictable Federal Student Aid.” Dynarski, Susan M, and Scott-Clayton, Judith E., Social Science Research Networkhttp://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2007/02education_dynarski/200702dynarski%20scott%20clayton.pdf 21