Mark your calendar—the City League Championship Basketball Game is airing on PCTV, Comcast Channel 21 and Verizon Channel 47, tomorrow afternoon. If you are not within the city limits, you can watch online.
It’s ladies first! At 3 p.m., Pittsburgh Allderdice will face off against Pittsburgh Westinghouse. At 9 p.m., the boys will take to the court.
Thanks to close to $3 million in grant awards, the 2013 Summer Dreamers Academy will serve up to 2,600 students this year. The Board voted to accept a large part of those funds, which includes $1.4 million from the Wallace Foundation and $360,000 from The Walmart Foundation, at this evening’s Legislative Meeting. Combined with the $1.2 million already received from the Fund for Excellence, Summer Dreamers will be able to serve the same number of students as last year. The Summer Dreamers Academy is a summer learning camp offered at no cost to eligible Pittsburgh Public Schools students. Registration information for this year’s camp, taking place July 1– August 7, will be mailed out next month.
Over the past two years, the Wallace Foundation has provided $2.8 million to support the Summer Dreamers Academy. This most recent grant will be used to staff positions, fund enrichment activities and transportation, and support communications efforts. In addition, The Wallace Foundation provides access to a professional learning community of consultants and colleagues across the country, which shares best practices regarding planning, enrollment and retention, operations, and summer curriculum development. The Wallace Foundation also supports a program evaluation by the RAND Corporation, including a two-year randomized control trial study of rising fourth grade students that will begin this summer. Additional support is expected for summer 2014.
The Walmart Foundation grant of $360,000 supports the camp’s middle grades program serving 760 students in grades 5-8. This is the second year of a two-year grant from The Walmart Foundation which totals $720,000. In November, the Board approved a $1.2 million grant from the Fund for Excellence.
Because of the generous financial support, Summer Dreamers Academy is able to serve up to 2,600 students this year. The program, designed to prevent summer learning loss, keeps students’ minds and bodies active as well as prepare them for a great school year in the fall. Research shows that over the summer children can lose, on average, one-month of what they learned in school.
This can add up over the years, and cause some children to fall behind. The Summer Dreamers Academy provides students the skills they need to succeed all year round.
But it’s not school as usual! Students will also take part in exciting enrichment activities of their choice. In the past, campers had a ball fencing, biking, painting and much more! Tonight, the Board additionally approved the contracts of 21 organizations to facilitate afternoon enrichment activities this summer. Organizations were selected through the Request for Proposal (RFP) process.
Enrollment gets underway for the Summer Dreamers Academy mid-March, with the mailing of registration materials to the homes of all PPS students currently enrolled in Kindergarten – 8th grade. Additional enrollment materials will be available at schools and by request from the Parent Hotline. To find out more information about the program and the enrollment process, log onto http://www.pps.k12.pa.us/summerdreamers
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.
2/27/13
On February 15, 2013, participating Culturally Responsive Arts Education (CRAE) schools (teachers and principals), Curriculum Supervisors, and Curriculum Writers attended a professional learning session with Dr. Theresa Perry.
Dr. Perry is a Professor of Africana Studies and Education at Simmons College. Her research and work in schools has recently focused on the development of a theory of practice for African American Achievement and educational environments that normalize high achievement for Black students. She has worked with schools and school systems throughout the country.
During her session with PPS she shared several research studies and topics such as the counter-narrative, cultural capital, stereotype threat, and the importance of African American History, the essentials of culturally responsive curriculum, and a theory of practice for African American Achievement. Dr. Perry is working with our academic team (specifically content supervisors and curriculum writers) to enhance culturally responsive practices and resources in our curricula as they are revised to meet Common Core State Standards.
A fifteen year old Carrick High Sophomore is undertaking a huge task compiling a Carrick High Cookbook.
2/22/13
2, 4, 6, 8…who do we appreciate? The Pittsburgh Obama mathematicians!
Recently, the team (Andrew Gu, Brian Foster, Toby Junker, Rashaan Mason and Reo Matsuda) won first place at the Pittsburgh Chapter Math Counts Competition.
About 200 students faced off. Pittsburgh Obama’s Andrew Gu placed 2nd overall and advanced to the state level. The team could move on as well when all of the state scores are tallied.
The team will be honored at this year’s PSPE Pittsburgh Chapter National Engineers Week Banquet.