Pittsburgh Public Schools News

Pittsburgh Allderdice students earned top titles at the Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania’s annual High School Japanese Speech Contest.

The competition was divided into four levels: a poster session for first-year students of Japanese, followed by three levels corresponding to the number of years of language study. The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania held the annual High School Japanese Speech Contest competition in collaboration with the Asian Studies Center (UCIS), Japanese Speaking Society at the University of Pittsburgh earlier this month.  at the William Pitt Union.

First place in the Advanced Plus category went to Joshua Zak. Joshua also received the Consulate Award, an electronic Japanese-English dictionary. First place in the Beginner category went to Sherry Ann Yang Allderdice High School. Hongching Cheung won the poster competition. All three students are taught by Ms. Isabel Espino de Valdivia.

(Photo: Joshua Zak)

(Photo: Sherry Ann Yang)

Looking for a weekend outing? Attend a high school musical!

The Pirates of Penzance will take the stage at Pittsburgh Allderdice this week. The sword fight starts March 14 and will run through the weekend. The two act play spins an hilarious farce of sentimental pirates, bumbling policemen, dim-witted young lovers, dewy-eyed daughters and an eccentric Major-General, all morally bound to the often-ridiculous dictates of honor and duty. 

Showtimes: March 14-16 at 7 p.m. and March 17 at 2 p.m.

Admission: $5 for students & seniors/$8 for adults

The Leader of the Pack will take the stage at Pittsburgh Perry. The curtain rises March 14 -17. This hit retro musical celebrates the life and times of Ellie Greenwich, whose doo wop sounds skyrocketed to the top of the sixties charts. 

Showtimes: March 14-16 at 7:15 p.m. and March 17 at 2 p.m.

Admission: $5 general seating

Tomorrow, February 27, 2013, part of the girls and boys teams at Pittsburgh Allderdice and Pittsburgh Obama will advance to the WPIAL Class AA championships.

During the regular season, the Obama squad went …undefeated and also won a section 6 title. This is the first year, the teams competed in the WPIAL division.

Want your hands on the hot ticket? Tickets go on sale tomorrow morning at the University of Pittsburgh’s Field House. The competition will take place Thursday and Friday.

The World Quest team at Pittsburgh Allderdice beat out several suburban and private schools in the 2013 World Quest Competition. 

World Quest has been a yearly competition for 10 years.  Of those 10 years, Allderdice has come in first place six times.  The team will travel in a couple of months to the national competition in Washington, DC. 

 Congratulations!

 An article on the event can be viewed HERE 

Panera Bread and Covelli Enterprises recently announced the winners of the 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Contest. All three award recipients are Pittsburgh Public Schools students.  Contest organizer and Corporate Diversity Associates CEO K. Chase Patterson told us, “Panera Bread wants to thank each outstanding student for their hard work and dedication to honoring the legacy of an American Treasure, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We have accomplished much since Dr. King’s death, and so many of those great strides are a result of the passion and energy that students like the winners generate in their parents, teachers, and communities.” To show appreciation, Panera Bread will host an event this Saturday to honor students for their successful submissions. 

WINNERS

1st Place: Jordan Lawson – Irony in Faith 

11th Grade, Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice

2nd Place: Ekin Erkan – The Path of Comfort or the Path of Struggle: Only One Can Change the World

12th Grade, Pittsburgh CAPA

3rd Place: Kelsey Miller – Revival

12th Grade, Pittsburgh CAPA

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Andrew Cummings – 9th Grade, Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice

Bryce Johnson – 9th Grade, City Charter High

Clare McKenzie – 9th Grade, Pittsburgh Taylor Allderdice

Maura Moseley – 10th Grade, Seton LaSalle High School

Marcus Robinson – 10th Grade, City Charter High

Sonu Bae – 11th Grade, Winchester Thurston

Tarah Wright – 11th Grade, Shadyside Academy

Marconna Taylor – 11th Grade, Pittsburgh Westinghouse

Maya McCray – 12th Grade, Pittsburgh Obama

Parys Burham – 12th Grade, Pittsburgh Obama

Congratulations to the three winners of the Panera Bread and Covelli Enterprises 2013 Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Contest!

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has released its updated average SAT scores for 2012.  Check out the entire list in the Pittsburgh Business Times. 

Here’s a quick FAQ to make sure your student is prepared to take the test.

How can you better prepare students for tests like SAT’s and ACT’s?

Taking and performing well on the SAT and ACT are an important part of the college application process.  In addition to the resources that your child’s school will have, there a number of SAT/ACT practice questions and tests available through their websites (http://sat.collegeboard.org/home and www.actstudent.org/testprep) as well as available through local bookstores. Classes and tutors are available as well, either for a fee or through some of our community partners.

Additionally, all PPS 10th and 11th grade students take the PSAT in October and have their scores mailed home to them soon after. Included with that score is that students access information to the College Board’s “My College QuickStart” page that gives the student personalized feedback based on their performance on the PSAT. It also allows them to start planning for college and practice for the SAT.

Contact your child’s guidance counselor for access to more test preparation materials, as well as to see if your child is eligible to have the fee for taking the SAT or ACT waived.

How are PPS kids performing on the SAT and why? Why was this omitted from A+ schools report to the community?

Like any indicator of student achievement, there is no single narrative to describe how well our students are performing on the SAT. As a district, we have seen some declines in our mean scores in each subject over the past five years and are not yet matching the mean scores of the state or nation. At the same time, however, the overall number of test takers has increased dramatically, particularly amongst our African-American students (last year saw a 73% increase in the number of African-American test takers alone!). Our White students are either outperforming or matching their Pennsylvanian peers, and the mean scores for our African-American students are quickly gaining on their peers in the state, improving +3 points this past year alone.

Today State Treasurer Rob McCord, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace, representatives of Visa Inc., and students of Allderdice High School kicked off a statewide effort to improve financial literacy among Pennsylvania teens.

Treasurer McCord and Wallace led students in a high-energy game of Financial Football, a free educational video game and classroom curriculum Visa developed to improve the money management skills of middle and high school students. Visa will distribute the game and curriculum materials to every Pennsylvania middle and high school.

“We need to teach children the fundamentals of personal finance while they are young, because a solid financial education will benefit them as adults. We want them to learn how to manage money properly and make it last in order to have a better shot at long-term economic security,” Treasurer McCord said. “This is a great partnership between Treasury, Visa and the NFL, and we’re proud to be a part of it.”

The free Financial Football game, which simulates an NFL game with financial literacy questions in between downs, is available at practicalmoneyskills.com/football.

PITTSBURGH, September 27, 2012 – The Pittsburgh Promise today issued its fourth annual report to the community. The report highlights the program’s impact on the first four-year college graduating class of Promise Scholars, its progress in influencing both high school and college retention rates, as well as its role in promoting urban education reform. The annual report also previewed new promotional campaigns featuring Promise Scholars in the workplace, ads to attract Latinos to Pittsburgh, and a real estate outreach effort featuring the $40,000 Promise scholarship benefit for city homeowners who send their children to Pittsburgh Public Schools. (more…)