Pittsburgh Public Schools' Excellence for All

Year 2 Evaluation

Shannah Tharp-Gilliam, Catherine Awsumb Nelson, Laura S. Hamilton, Kun Yuan

ResearchPublished Jun 8, 2009

In 2007, the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) requested that the RAND Corporation monitor implementation of year 2 (2007–2008) of the district's Excellence for All (EFA) initiative and provide feedback to district staff, the PPS board, and other stakeholders. In 2008, RAND expanded to a more comprehensive focus on effective implementation of EFA's instructional change, including the rollout of the core curricula, capacity-building efforts, and student outcomes. Recommendations include focusing on areas for improvement, using data to improve instruction, giving teachers flexibility and time to work with coaches, increasing support and reducing reporting requirements, improving communication between district and school-level staff, conducting needs assessments and use them to create action plans, training and evaluating coaches better, sharing strategic plans, and helping teachers and staff connect with students.

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Tharp-Gilliam, Shannah, Catherine Awsumb Nelson, Laura S. Hamilton, and Kun Yuan, Pittsburgh Public Schools' Excellence for All: Year 2 Evaluation. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2009. https://www.rand.org/pubs/documented_briefings/DB575-1.html.
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This research was sponsored by the Fund for Excellence, a consortium of Pittsburgh foundations. It was conducted within RAND Education, a research unit within the RAND Corporation.

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This publication supersedes a previous version published in 2009 (DB-575-PPS).