Progress Monitoring Meeting - October 6, 2026

Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Progress Monitoring Meeting on October 6, 2026, focused on the district’s Grade 3 English language arts goal: reaching 46.06% proficiency on state reading assessments by June 2027, against a 2024–25 baseline of 43.9%. Administrators reviewed reading data, including improvement in CDT results during the prior year but persistent low proficiency and disparities among student groups. State assessment results from the previous spring were not yet available. The district outlined plans to strengthen core instruction, targeted literacy interventions, and instructional leadership and data review. These include monitoring implementation of the district-adopted Open Court Reading curriculum, providing targeted coaching and professional learning, and assigning eight district reading specialists, with Grades 1–3 prioritized for intensive support. The district also plans to build students’ familiarity with digital texts and online assessment tools following the shift to computer-based state testing.

Board members questioned gaps in Open Court implementation, how school-level follow-up and accountability will work, and whether implementation gaps were concentrated in particular schools. They also discussed reporting student growth alongside proficiency, the progress-monitoring calendar, and limited state guidance on online testing. Administrators said they would share the Reading League’s evaluation of Open Court and consider presenting student growth more clearly in future monitoring reports. The meeting included no contract award, vendor selection, purchasing approval, spending motion, or vote; the curriculum and publisher support were discussed as part of implementation, without a new procurement decision or dollar amount identified.