West Allegheny schools get $700,000 grant

Mapped out on a dry erase board in the office of West Allegheny superintendent Jerri Lynn Lippert is her game plan for building what she and other administrators call “The Framework for Academic Excellence.”

With the recent receipt of a $700,000 grant, Ms. Lippert can wipe off that dry erase board the goal of having more than 50 percent of the district’s students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses.

Ms. Lippert, Pittsburgh Public Schools’ former chief academic officer, has been West Allegheny superintendent since July. She and two new administrators who arrived in August — Sean Aiken and Kimberly Basinger — have been working to implement “The Framework for Academic Excellence.”

The administrators recently learned that the district will receive a $729,128 grant from the National Math and Science Initiative for use in STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programming.

Before the district learned that it had been awarded the grant, Ms. Lippert described her hopes of receiving it as: “That would be the exclamation point on the year.”

The grant over three years will be used to increase AP offerings and enrollment in those classes. Funds will cover teacher training and will be used to reimburse students who take the year-end AP tests. Currently, the tests cost $91 per course. The grant will cover half of the cost, with West Allegheny required to pay for the other half.

In 2013-14, 210 of the district’s 527 juniors and seniors enrolled in at least one AP class.

Various other goals have been met in recent months. The district has completed an early bird teacher’s contract, adopted a co-principal model at the high school, made plans for full-day kindergarten and got the wheels turning for a Book Bus partnership with Western Allegheny Community Library.

“Reading levels by third grade are the No. 1 predictor of future success,” Ms. Lippert said, adding that some students come to kindergarten ready but others do not.

Future elementary education goals include working to have pre-kindergarten classes for children in the Wilson Elementary School attendance area. Administrators are looking to partner with other organizations to acquire funding for that.

“This whole push for literacy is not just the Book Bus and the full-day kindergarten,” Ms. Lippert said. She hopes the additions will have the district “spending less money and timeon remediation.”

Other priorities of the excellence framework include having 95 percent of students reading at or above grade level; 85 percent passing firsttime Keystone exams; 70 percent achieving advanced status on statewide assessments; 90 percent of those enrolled in career and technical training experiencing success on exams and acquiring industry certifications; and 75 percent participating in an extracurricular activity.

At the middle and high schools, academics are being restructured to require more math, science and social studies. High school students will have to complete Algebra II and physics as a graduation requirement.

Ms. Lippert notes that school will be more difficult for some students but ultimately will create better outcomes for them as adults.