View from the BurghChair: 14 to 8.3% -- City vs County

View from the BurghChair: "Fourteen percent of city births are from women under the age of 20 (post). This is compared to 8.3% in Allegheny County (post). Twenty -four percent of African American births in the city last year were to mothers under the age of 19 (post).

Landlords sue city to stop registrations

This is what folly looks like:

Landlords sue city to stop registrations The Apartment Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh sued the city of Pittsburgh today to try to overturn the rental registration ordinance that tells landlords to pay a $12-per-unit fee by April 1.

The association, which includes 185 landlords with properties in the city, according to the complaint, believes the law is unconstitutional, unenforceable and an illegal tax.

City council needs to be relevant, again, someday. City council can't get there doing what shouldn't be done. Rather, do what needs to be done. Do that well.

Don't talk to opponents after they file paperwork with the courts. Too late. Too little.

It is impossible to legislate morality -- and responsibility. Plus, these acts of over-reaching are not prudent for a city on the brink. The purpose of government needs to be respected before respect can be delivered by the force of government run a muck.

Auditor General Says State Should Hold Off On Sale Of Building - News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh

Way to go Jack Wagner.

Auditor General Says State Should Hold Off On Sale Of Building - News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh: "Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner said Monday that the commonwealth should postpone plans to sell the State Office Building in Pittsburgh because of the weak economy.

'A financial transaction in these depressed market conditions amounts to a fire sale that is not in the best interest of taxpayers,' Wagner said in a letter sent to James Creedon, secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of General Services.

I'm "sold." Good logic.

However, I'd be happy to sell the Convention Center at a fire sale. Sell it to the slots parlor owner and then he could put slots in a part of the Convention Center next week.

Sell Heinz Field to the Steelers.

Sell PNC Park to the Pirates.

Sell things that cost money to maintain. Sell those facilities at a price that equals what is still owed on the facilities.

Sell the Pittsburgh Airport.

Sell the assets of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority. Don't lease the parking garages for 30 or 99 years -- sell them.

Sell them for fair prices -- and sell them over a course of years, if necessary.

Blast from the past: Patrick Dowd

Tour of University Prep, a new PPS school for grades 6 to 12

The Excellence for All meeting was held at U-Prep. I went. We got an informal tour. Here is the video.



The University Prep School is now only with kids in 9th grade. There are 140 students. They have room for 150.

Next year, starting in the fall of 2009, the school expands as the 9th graders go to 10th and a new 9th class enters. Plus, the school grows to include grades 6, 7 and 8. So, the school will be 6 to 10 in fall of 2009. It goes to 6 to 11 fall of 2010. And, then in the fall of 2011, the school goes from 6 to 12 -- full capacity. The first graduates are in May (early summer) of 2012.

Presently, the kids who want to play sports do so with Schenley. Later, the sports teams will come from joint student bodies -- U-Prep and the new Science and Technology School. Perhaps, one day, the team will have its own sports teams.

Students will be able to enter the school at grades 6 and grades 9. The middles-school has fewer students per grade than what will be in the high school. Half of the kids in the high school grades will come from within the U-Prep middle school and half will come to the school from other schools.

Half of the kids at U-Prep are from the neighborhood. The other half are from around the city. There is a city-wide magnet program at U-Prep. So, regardless where you live, you have a 'chance' to get into that school.

There are a lot of flags and banners around the school devoted to various colleges and Universities. I didn't get much of that on the video tour. Grambling to Ohio State to MIT were represented. College is on the front of everyone's minds, I dare say.

The school's slogan is "We Believe, We Achieve, We Succeed." That is the same slogan as at CAPA, for what its worth. I like the slogan as one like it was used in books on sports psychology I published years ago.

WPIAL team scores

Girls -- AA

1. Oakland Catholic 372
2. Shady Side Academy 317
3. West Allegheny High School 162
4. Mars Area 140
5. Hampton 129
6. Uniontown High School 128
7. Blackhawk High School 127
8. Knoch High School 103
9. Mt. Pleasant 93
10. Greensburg Salem 86
11. Montour 84
12. South Fayette 60
13. West Mifflin 50
14. Derry Area High School 47
15. Burrell 44
16. Indiana 31
17. Northgate 30
18. Brentwood 20
18. Quaker Valley 20
18. Elizabeth Forward 20
21. Belle Vernon Area 19
22. Riverside (Ellwood City) 15
23. Valley 14
23. South Park 14
25. Highlands 7
26. Seton LaSalle 6
27. Carlynton High School 3
28. Freeport Area 2

Boys -- AA

1. Shady Side Academy 277
2. Indiana 237
3. Hampton 234
4. Riverside (Ellwood City) 171
5. Moon Area 142
6. West Allegheny High School 106.5
7. Belle Vernon Area 106
8. Burrell 99.5
9. Carlynton High School 88
10. South Park 81
11. Blackhawk High School 77
12. Highlands 68
13. South Fayette 67
14. Derry Area High School 60
15. Trinity (Washington) 59
16. Montour 54
16. Quaker Valley 54
18. Elizabeth Forward 45
19. Brentwood 41.5
20. Cornell 29
21. Uniontown High School 28
22. South Allegheny High School 27
23. Valley 22
24. Seton LaSalle 18.5
25. Thomas Jefferson High School 17
26. Beaver Area High School 14
27. Chartiers Valley High School 13
28. Knoch High School 10
29. Bishop Canevin High School 5
30. Mt. Pleasant 4
30. Northgate 4
32. Freeport Area 2
32. Washington 2
34. Greensburg Salem 1

Girls -- AAA

1. North Allegheny 372
2. Bethel Park High School 281
3. Peters Township High School 234
4. Hempfield Area High School 168
5. Fox Chapel Area 161
6. Greater Latrobe 135
7. Seneca Valley 130
8. Penn Trafford High School 129
9. Woodland Hills 104
10. Franklin Regional 101
11. Moon Area 92
12. Norwin Area 75
13. Mount Lebanon 70
14. North Hills 63
15. Pine Richland High School 54
16. Plum 35
17. Trinity (Washington) 26
18. Kiski Area High School 16
18. Gateway 16
20. Canon-McMillan 14
21. Butler 13
22. Connellsville Area 11
23. Shaler Area 8
24. Baldwin 6
24. Laurel Highlands 6
26. Chartiers Valley High School 3
27. Upper St. Clair 2

Boys -- AA

1. North Allegheny 433
2. Mount Lebanon 247
3. Pittsburgh Central Catholic 225.5
4. Peters Township High School 183
5. Penn Trafford High School 148
6. Franklin Regional 134
7. Upper St. Clair 110.5
8. Norwin Area 101.5
9. Gateway 98
10. North Hills 95.5
11. Fox Chapel Area 92
12. Hempfield Area High School 91
13. Seneca Valley 71
14. Bethel Park High School 64
15. Penn Hills 50.5
16. Connellsville Area 32
17. Canon-McMillan 25
17. Kiski Area High School 25
19. Greater Latrobe 24
20. Butler 23
21. Shaler Area 22.5
22. Plum 12
22. Woodland Hills 12
24. Baldwin 5

More: PA Swimming || Official Site || Competitive Swimming in Pennsylvania

Info picket after the Bishop's visits

If anyone wants to join Mike F, as he passes out flyers at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in West Mifflin, PA, with the arrival of Bishop Frank Zubik of the Pittsburgh Diocese on Thursday, March 5, 2009 and/or Wednesday March 18 -- call him. He hopes to pass out flyers detailing his investigation into former Catholic priest John Wellinger who served as the parish priest at Holy Spirit in West Mifflin, PA. Wellinger also served as an assistant at Our Lady of Grace in Scott Township.

BISHOP ZUBIK LEADS PENANCE SERVICES, CELEBRATES STATIONS OF THE CROSS IN PARISHES
Bishop David A. Zubik will continue to lead penance services around the diocese and celebrate the Stations of the Cross at parishes during Lent, all beginning at seven p.m.

The penance services with Rite of Reconciliation are as follows:

Thursday, February 26, Saint Catherine of Sweden, Wildwood
Monday, March 2, Sacred Heart, Shadyside
Wednesday, March 4, Saint Barbara, Bridgeville
Thursday, March 5, Holy Spirit, West Mifflin
Monday, March 9, Saint Gregory, Zelienople
Tuesday, March 10, Our Lady of Joy, Holiday Park
Thursday, March 12, Our Lady of Fatima, Hopewell
Tuesday, March 17, Saint Benedict the Abbot, Peters Township
Wednesday, March 18, Our Lady of Grace, Scott Township

More in comments.

We're running a mapping party in Pittsburgh!

Ever heard of Open Street Maps?

I'd like to invite you to the mapping party I'm hosting in Pittsburgh on 3/7/09 and 3/8/09.

Come and meet other mappers, learn more about OSM and have some fun! A GPS unit is not required, we can lend you one. Let me know if you can come or if there's anything I can do to make this party better. Please RSVP on one of the sites below.

You can check out more info at the wiki page or any of the event sites listed below.

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Pittsburgh
http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-OpenStreetMap/calendar/9837977/

http://www.meetup.com/Pittsburgh-OpenStreetMap/calendar/9838226/
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2112410/

Russ Nelson, Twitter: russnelson

State Rep. DeLuca wants to limit outside income

State Rep. DeLuca wants to limit outside income: "State Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills, wants to limit how much outside income a legislator can earn.

Dowd bashes Pittsburgh finances, says more cuts needed

Humm...

Dowd bashes Pittsburgh finances, says more cuts needed: "he called that 'fleecing these organizations for cash' and likened it to 'demanding large monetary gifts from close friends.'

The other interesting quote is saying that the city's goofy budget is like "trying to sell your house to pay your bills instead of cutting expenses."

To be honest, the city already sold the pipes in its house to pay for the neighbor's expansion. Years ago the city sold off the water and sewer authority. That's like selling the pipes within your house. Mayor Murphy was great at one-time fixes. This is exactly what Luke Ravenstahl is doing as well. He offers a one-time fix of leasing the Parking Authority assets.

To lease the Parking Authority assets is silly. Sell them. The Parking Authority assets are like the side lot that is a place where you could park your car.

But the selling of the assets in the past was done so as to build the stadiums, in part. Large sums of money were spent in one-shot deals that invested into the Steelers' Heinz Field and Pirates PNC Park. Both are authority built -- and both should be owned by the teams and not by a city agency.

Well, at least Dowd is trying something.

2 teens charged in Duquesne U. parking lot robbery

Three cheers for the police on this! Way to go.

2 teens charged in Duquesne U. parking lot robbery: "Police and security personnel responded within seconds to obtain information from the victims, three teens who had attended the City League playoff game between Perry and Allderdice high schools."

SWOTs notes from Excellence for All monthly meeting

This week I had the painful pleasure of going to yet another community meeting with those over-sized post-it notes. Generally, I'm with more comfort if they are using butcher paper.

This one was organized by Pgh Public Schools and its parent engagement coordinator, Mark Conner under the Excellence for All flag. The main note taker was an employee from A+ Schools.

At the end of the meeting, I went to the notes and took these snaps. They need to be better organized to tell the SWOT story.

I'll try, if I have the time, to put them into concept maps.

---

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Click on any image to see a larger view.

I would have rather been watching the Pitt basektball game -- but then again, that was the night of the loss to the Friars.

I heard today that Sports Illustrated was set to feature Pitt on the cover of this week's magazine, until that loss to an un-ranked team. I guess it was reported in the P-G?

A School Booster Story

Just the other day I was talking about how the Pittsburgh Public Schools lack in terms of "booster groups." Here is a nice example of what is missing throughout the district throughout all the programs and schools.

CAPA friends nurture school, talent - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "CAPA friends nurture school, talent

CAPA is a jewel among the offerings in Pittsburgh. Yet, it isn't for my kids. And, there are some 'issues" -- as there must be with all schools.

Great to have strong academics and strong arts. However, a person asked me recently, "Do those who have outstanding talents in the arts always strong grades in other academic areas?"

"We strive to produce outstanding academicians as well as outstanding artists," Taliaferro said. "It makes our kids ready to problem-solve and participate in critical thinking, really ready to go out into the world and fulfill that Pittsburgh Promise."

Walt Disney would not be able to get into CAPA. Andy Warhol might have had a hard time getting into CAPA.

CAPA is for those who are good at arts and good in school courses. Both are necessary.

One knock against CAPA is that it excludes those with the raw artistic talent if they don't have the grades as well. Humm... What do you think.

For me, I'm okay with those standards that require solid classroom and artistic outcomes.

Of course CAPA students are making top test scores among the PPS High Schools. You don't need the combination of an audition and solid grades to get into any of the other schools. Why only 93.1 percent and only 92.4 percent? What about those others? CAPA should score the typical 110%, right? (Joke, re: the >100%, but not on the only 7.4%.)

CAPA does offer a welcoming environment. That's splendid. And, that feeling of a school is hard to replicated. Schenley had a great atmosphere too, when it was in Oakland. It moved and was changed by the PPS Board, including Patrick Dowd. Plus, CAPA's feel gets a whole new jolt for the 2009-10 school year as those in grades 6, 7 and 8 are going to be put into the same building / school as the existing kids of grades 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Yikes. I wish the district would tinker with the schools that are NOT so friendly and without the accomplishments.

Boosters are great. It is wonderful that the parents are stepping up to genreate additional support programs. Every school and every program needs its boosters.

We're starting on an effort to make a meta booster group in Pittsburgh for various programs and schools -- starting with sports. Interested?

PghComet plugs a couple of my recent tweets

Thanks Bram.

Shots fired in Forbes Avenue Parking Garage

Shots fired in Forbes Avenue Parking Garage: "The Palumbo Center this evening was hosting the city League Basketball Championship game between Pittsburgh Allderdice and Pittsburgh Perry at 6 p.m., followed by a girl's championship game between Pittsburgh Westinghouse and Pittsburgh Schenley."

Mayor's busy bees stung by eagerness - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Mayor's busy bees stung by eagerness - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "Mayor's busy bees stung by eagerness"

No big deal. I got a call too. And, I didn't even blog about it, until now and seeing your little rejection rant. Still, it is no big deal getting a phone call asking for political engagement.

When is the Trib going to host a debate? Perhaps you can take Luke, Carmen and Patrick out for lunch one day and ask them a set of questions and then write about it. Or, better yet, hold the meeting at a public place, say the lobby of the Pgh Childrens Museum.

I'm serious. It would be a valid public service for the folks at the Trib to do something constructive in terms of candidate debates in this city.

Buzz and Spin on 3-Year Degrees for colleges. I want 5 year as option for HS kids

I've been buzzing about the creation of a 13th year option for Pittsburgh Public Schools as a new program so as to insure have a better chance of life-long success for many reasons. We need to get more of our kids to finish high school. We need to get more of our kids accepted into colleges. We need to get more of our kids to stay in college once they get there, rather than flunking out. Too few of our kids go to college and too many, once they get there, flunk out.

This push for a 13th year option at the I.B. Jr./Sr. High is easy to do. Furthermore, it is more pressing as the trend for colleges and universities is to condense the undergraduate years from four to three.

Check out this article below from Inside Higher Ed.

When U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander spoke this month at the annual meeting of the American Council on Education, he urged college leaders to offer three-year bachelor's degrees. The concept would cut "one fourth of the time and up to one third of the cost," he said, calling three-year degrees the “higher ed equivalent of a fuel-efficient car,” compared to the traditional “gas guzzling four-year course." Alexander is a Republican with both political and academic experience (he is former president of the University of Tennessee). At another session at the meeting, Richard Celeste said he was interested in the idea of three-year degrees. Celeste, a former Democratic governor of Ohio, is president of Colorado College.

Alexander and Celeste are not alone in their consideration of the idea. Richard Vedder, a Spellings Commission alumnus who leads the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, is among the higher ed critics who have embraced the notion of the three-year degree. In a blog posting, he noted that Thomas Jefferson's two-year program at the College of William and Mary didn't stunt his intellectual growth. "Today, undergraduates seldom finish before 22, and Ph.D.'s seldom receive their degree before the age of 27 or 28.

Colleges have been able to get away with keeping productive resources under their control for longer and longer periods (collecting tuition all the while), despite no demonstrated evidence that this has sizable positive learning effects," he wrote.

Moving away from four-year degrees has been encouraged by Wick Sloane, one of this Web site's columnists. Also endorsing the idea is the late George Keller, who led the University of Pennsylvania program for the study of higher education and who died in 2007, but not before finishing the essays that make up Higher Education and the New Society, published last year by Johns Hopkins University Press. In the volume, he made the case for three-year degrees by noting that many students today are more likely to enter college with Advanced Placement credit and to leave with plans for graduate school, somewhat minimizing the need for "depth" in undergraduate programs. Further, he said that the best model to be pushing now -- in light of rising college prices and the proliferation of knowledge -- is one in which college is three years but more emphasis is placed on lifelong learning.

Bingo! AP credit is much like IB credit. The AP is a 'brand' just as IB is another 'brand' for extra credit that comes at the high school level. Most of the PPS students who would enter the 13th year option at the IB High would have few AP classes. This IB experience would give them an opportunity to have a leg up while in Pittsburgh so as to be able to compete with their college mates once they arrive on campus.

Colleges and universities have an "apparent intransigence" on the issue, he wrote, despite three-year degrees being "a no-brainer."

Are they really a no-brainer?

In fact such a plan has been proposed previously -- and tried in several cases. The idea has also flopped more than it has taken off. Some in higher education believe that circumstances may be right for the idea now, despite previous failures. And one new experiment -- at Manchester College -- appears to be off to a good start. But educators there say that the idea makes sense only for a relatively small subset of students. Still others worry about the rigor or actual cost savings of three year programs.

Until recently, the biggest flurry of attention for the three-year degree came in the early 1990s, when S. Frederick Starr, then the president of Oberlin College, proposed it as a way to deal with college costs. He was widely praised by politicians and pundits for floating the idea. Starr argued that it would save money, and that students would embrace it. Because Starr spoke frequently about the issue, some people assume that the college actually acted on the idea.

In fact, the Oberlin faculty was decidedly unimpressed. One professor wrote a letter to The New York Times in 1993 to be sure everyone understood: "Lest readers be misled by the news media offensive of S. Frederick Starr ... Oberlin College does not offer a three-year degree. It does not plan to do so, and it does not advocate students trying to finish college in three years. Indeed, even in the midst of a broad strategic planning process initiated by Mr. Starr, we are not discussing such a possibility. The idea seems to be only on Mr. Starr's personal agenda. Perhaps he will pursue it when he leaves Oberlin next June."

Humm. The 13th year option for PPS is now turning into a 'personal agenda' for me.

A missing element in this 3 year for undergraduate discussion is the direct to medical school / pharmacy school / PT school options. There are some programs that give kids a chance to enter college on a fast track and have automatic admit to medical school too. So, rather than taking a 4 year degree in "pre med" and then three years in medical school, they do a six year program instead.

Does Duquesne (for physical thearapy) and Pitt (for pharmacy) offer accelerate programs so as to shorten the required undergrad years? More research needed.

And, if they do exist locally (at Pitt and DU), how many of the students that graduate from the typical PPS High Schools would gain admittance to those programs?

Student Interest That Didn't Materialize

Albertus Magnus College, in Connecticut, tried a three-year program for several years in the 1990s, by going from a semester to trimester system, with the idea that students could take courses year round and graduate in three years. The program was halted after most students started skipping a semester a year and very few took advantage of the possibility of graduating in three years.

Upper Iowa University some years ago created a three-year option that remains on the books there. But Linc Morris, vice president of enrollment management, said that no students are currently enrolled in the program and that he doesn't think anyone has tried it for at least three years. Upper Iowa operates on a quarter system in which students typically take two courses a quarter, but spend more time on each course than would be the norm elsewhere. The accelerated option was based on the assumption that some students would be able to get out in three years by adding courses during quarters and taking summer courses.

Because the university charges tuition by credits, students finishing in three years would not have saved money on tuition. But they would have avoided room and board for one year, as well as fees, which are charged by the quarter.

Records at the university show that five students enrolled in the program one year, but that none finished their degrees in three years.

National data suggest that the Upper Iowa and Albertus Magnus students weren't unusual. For example, many proponents of three-year degrees say that the growth of AP programs should make early graduation easy, since more students enter college with college credit. But the College Board has no data to show a correlation between taking AP courses and finishing early. In fact, College Board officials tend to talk about AP these days as a tool to encourage students to graduate on time (four years), not early. Data that the College Board do have show that students who take AP courses have a higher four-year graduation rate than the student body at large. Still, of those who have taken AP courses, only 63 percent graduate within four years, with the rest taking longer or dropping out.

'Fast Forward' at Manchester

Manchester College, in Indiana, is in the first year of a three-year option for students -- billed as a way to save students money and allow them to start earning salaries a year ahead of schedule. Under the Fast Forward program, selected students who are admitted to the college are given the option of acceleration. These students must take an average of 16 credits a semester (the normal range is 12-16) and take their general education courses online over the summer to finish in three years. Manchester estimates that students can save a total of $25,000 in the program, assuming that they live rent-free at home during the summers. The savings come both from room and board costs for the year they skip, and slightly lower tuition rates that the college charges for summer courses compared to those offered in the academic year.

The college notes that the financial gain can be much more, however, if students land a job a year earlier than they would otherwise.

Fourteen students -- about 4 percent of the freshman class -- are in the program. David F. McFadden, executive vice president at Manchester, said the college is pleased with the response and doesn't anticipate the program ever becoming standard for everyone. Because students must apply to the college for four years -- and then be identified as having potential for Fast Forward -- the college has a lot of control over who receives the opportunity. McFadden said that the ideal students not only are well prepared and disciplined academically, but generally need to have a good sense of their college goals coming in.

For some majors, he said, requirements are such that students need to be taking specific courses from their first semester at the campus. "They really need to know what their majors are going to be," he said.

McFadden said that some of those attending information sessions for potential applicants at Manchester this year said that they were attracted by the program. But he said that he thinks the college's approach of offering the three-year option only after acceptance is a good one for identifying the right students. "Not that many students think about this in a concrete enough way to come to college saying 'This is what I want to do,' " he said.

The students in the program have "very specific interests," and they did well academically in their first semester. He stressed that Manchester still believes that, for many students, colleges is "a place to come and know more of what's possible," and four years may be quite appropriate for that quest.

McFadden said students in the three-year program may also gain something because of the need to work closely with professors on planning their course selections with precision. He said he had just spoken with a student at another college who had been on track to graduate in four years, but who had missed some requirements for his major, and had quickly seen a four-year degree become a five-year degree, and that extra year was going to add significantly to the student's debt. A three-year program, McFadden said, "allows fewer missteps" than a four-year degree, and will force students to be "more focused and deliberate." As a result, he said he thinks people starting three-year programs and following appropriate advice may end up with higher completion rates than those who plan to finish in four.

Mercedes Plummer, who is in the first year of the Manchester program, is working toward an education degree so she can teach physical education and become a coach for elementary or middle school children. She said that since has a specific education and career goal, she isn't worried about the focus. Saving money was the attraction of the program, she said. She'll borrow modestly to pay for the three years of costs. But the $25,000 she's saving would all have been additional loans that she will now avoid.

Because the summer learning is online and asynchronous, Plummer said that it will not force her to miss everything she would have done during the summer -- she plans to hold a part-time job. "I don't have to stay on campus," she said. While some of her friends question her choice, saying she'll miss the "experience" of four years of college, Plummer said that graduating with less debt is plenty of compensation for that. "I know what I want to do," she said.

At Manchester, and most of the programs attempted to date, colleges have clung to 120 credits (the standard for a bachelor's degree) and sought ways for students to reach that level in three years. Some educators think that the 120 figure should be a little less sacred, and that this will lead to programs that can be completed in less than four years.

Leslie E. Wong, president of Northern Michigan University, said he believes that some college degrees could be earned in as few as 100 credits -- if well chosen -- rather than 120 credits. In such cases, he said, colleges would need to make general education "more focused" than is typically the case today. Further, he questioned whether colleges hesitate to award full credit for intense educational experiences, such as study abroad. "If someone goes away for two semesters, why don't we give extra credits, given that good study abroad is so powerful an experience?" he said.

The idea is not just to shorten education, Wong said, but to make college completion more realistic for those with limited funds or adult learners with limited time. What, he asked, is so special about 120 credits?

Limited funds is a great benefit and argument for the 13th year option too.

Students could take a few courses in the 13th year while working, so as to save money for college tuition.

Students could take the IB class as part of the 13th year and then pass a test and get college credit for courses, saving money.

Students could go to the IB classes in the 13th year, get the knoweldge, and then go to college and take a placement exam and skip classes. But, more practicle, after the 13th year the students would have solid knowlege and in turn have time for a part time job rather than needing to study so much to just keep up with the classes.

Wong acknowledged that some might assume a loss of knowledge or skills for those graduating with just 100 credits. And he noted that the requirements of some majors and pre-professional programs might make 100 credits impossible for some students. But he said that he would like to see colleges have the flexibility to experiment with 100 credits, and at the same time have measures so students could demonstrate their learning.

Suppose, he said, that graduation was linked to completion of an electronic portfolio in which a student demonstrated knowledge and skills, and that such portfolios could be presented at 100 credits, not just at 120. To those wanting to judge students reaching the two credit levels, "the proof would be in the pudding," he said.

Another great reason for the 5th year option for PPS, the pressure for a 3-year college program. Why spend a year in college when you don't know your major. You can't change majors within your course of studies in college and expect to get past in three years. For those not sure about a specific major -- a 5th year option would be prudent.

While many educators assume that they must offer 120 credits in a bachelor's programs, that rule isn't ironclad. Some accreditors require 120 credits, and many specialized accreditors require so many credits that, when combined with institutional requirements, 120 credits are necessary. But the Education Department's definition of a bachelor's degree doesn't specify credits. Instead it defines bachelor's degree this way: "An award (baccalaureate or equivalent degree, as determined by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education) that normally requires at least four but not more than five years of full-time equivalent college-level work.... Also includes bachelor's degrees in which the normal four years of work are completed in three years."

The IB program does offer baccalaureate and equivalent to college-level work.

Looking for Evidence

The question of proof of knowledge is central to the success of any venture in three-year degrees, said Clifford Adelman, a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy who has been studying European higher education -- in which three year bachelor's degrees have become the standard through the "Bologna Process," which has set common standards for participating countries. But Adelman said that the key to understanding the European degrees is that they are accompanied by specific learning outcomes and by statements of what the degree qualifies a holder to do. These continent-wide standards are quite different from anything in the United States for three or four years of undergraduate study.

"What makes the Bologna degree what it is is that it's got learning outcomes," Adelman said. "If all you are going to do is tell me that instead of 120 credits, you have 90 credits, that's just a useless piece of paper," he said.

Adelman also questioned whether the focus on three years would help the students most in need of help. The three-year model is based on full-time enrollment, he noted. The population growing more quickly -- and more in need of additional institutional support -- is made up of part-time students, he said. Colleges should focus on their needs, even if they will take much longer than traditional students to graduate. "Life is not necessarily an easy road to a bachelor's degree," he said. Most students can't take a full-time course load, let alone more, Adelman added. "If you want to improve graduation rates, three-year degrees are counterproductive."

He characterized the push for three years as coming from those whose ideas about higher ed amount to: "get it over with and get it over with fast."

Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said he also worried that the European three-year degrees were not an appropriate model for the United States. A more common high school curriculum and limited expectations about general education, he said, are key to the three-year approach.

Nassirian suggested that if three-year degrees are created simply by squeezing more content into shorter time periods, "I'm actually skeptical that you would save much money." Further, he said, while efficiency and economy are important values, they aren't the only values that matter.

"There's no question that the way we do it has all kinds of avoidable inefficiencies. I'm not suggesting that what we have is perfect," Nassirian said. "But it's very important to be upfront with people and explain the trade-offs" of trying to finish college in three years instead of four. "You wouldn't be able to go from physics to philosophy or philosophy to physics," he said.

And without agreed upon standards for program content, he said, there is a risk that three-year programs could just be less time and less substance. "There's nothing wrong with ramping up programs, but the absence of metrics creates the problem," he said. While it is a satirical example, he admitted, Nassirian said the focus on cutting a year reminded him of the comedian Father Guido Sarducci's sketch on his plans to create the "Five Minute University" -- in which students would learn in five minutes "what the average college graduate remembers" five years after graduation. The cost is $20, which covers tuition, cap and gown rental, and snacks.

— Scott Jaschik

• Students can already complete a bachelor's degree in 3 years if they attend class over each summer in addition to taking (and passing) 5 courses each Fall & Spring semester.

• The real problem today is students taking 5 years to get a 4 year degree. Sometimes it is the student's fault (dropping courses, taking light loads, etc.), but many times it is due to courses not being offered or too few sections offered, etc. It tends to snowball-if a student doesn't get into the introductory course, he is shut out of the other courses in that area. Colleges and universities do not want to help their students finish more rapidly for economic reasons. My son was able to complete a 4 year degree at UVA in three due to having more than 50 credits when he entered. (college courses taken while in high school and AP courses) But he said it is no longer possible to do that as the courses he was able to take in the summer are no longer available. They were only necessary, so he could get through the courses in his major, which had to be taken in sequence and were only offered in particular semesters. UVA in his day was generous in granting AP credits, which may no longer be the case.

• Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH has been offering a three-year business degree option for a number of years. They redesigned their traditional curriculum to focus on the acquisition and demonstration of competencies, not just credits. The program is for motivated, higher achieving students and would serve as a great model for other institutions.

See the comments for more comments.

R.K. Mellon Foundation gives $9 million to Promise fund

More money for the Pittsburgh Promise isn't going un-noticed.

R.K. Mellon Foundation gives $9 million to Promise fund The Richard King Mellon Foundation this morning announced it will give the Pittsburgh Promise college scholarship program $9 million over three years.

With the first $3 million installment of that gift, the Promise's fund-raising total for the school year is about $11.5 million. In all, the program must raise $15 million by June 30 to leverage the first $10 million of a $90 million challenge grant from University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

The Promise awards scholarships to graduates of the Pittsburgh Public Schools and city charter schools.

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Objections to 13th year idea from a school board member

The other day I had the opportunity to button hole a school board member at another event. We talked about the 13th year proposal for Pgh Public Schools. The board member had just heard my statement to the board a couple of days prior so it had to be fresh.

Objection: We won't want to take kids out of their home school for this.

Answer: We won't. The kids will choose, as an option, to attend the 13th year AFTER they have completed the study and received their diploma at their home school. They go to the 13th year AFTER the 12th year is finished.

Objection: We won't want to set up a new school for the 13th year.

Answer: We won't. We already have a new school being established, the I.B. Jr./Sr. High School. The 13th year is a program that resides within this school. No need for a new school. The students in the 13th year fill empty seats within the classroom of what is being offered already.

Objection: We (PPS) are doing so much now, I don't see how we can manage it.

Answer: We are sending a lot of kids to college who are then flunking out. That needs to be managed. The entire program could be managed by one person, a 13th year coordinator who works with the office of the IB Jr./Sr. High School for admissions and supervision of records. This could be paid for by the Pittsburgh Promise.

Objection: Lots of kids who are departing 12th grade are not interested in sticking around school any longer. They want to go and get out.

Answer: Exactly.

This 13th year option is not for 'everyone.' It is not for "most kids." The 13th year option is for a few kids who want to step it up in terms of academic study. This is for kids who want to learn and who want to go to a better college the next year. They want to improve themselves with better test scores and have better options for admissions the next year. Perhaps 20, 50 or 100 kids will take advantage of this 13th year program.

The 13th year option puts kids into a different setting within the I.B. school, where there are different classes, different goals, different classmates, different setting than what was happening at their other school. The kids from CAPA, Allderidice, Perry, Brashear, Oliver, Westinghouse, Peabody, U-Prep, Sci-Tech and Langley will not be "sticking around" where they have been in the past. They'll be setting out in a new and different place.

Objection: The kids won't want to take things over again in the 13th year.

Answer: Exactly.

Well, some kids do need to take things over again because they failed it the first time. That's called summer school. The 13th year program is NOT a replacement for summer school. If you don't pass the basic classes, you can't graduate. If you don't graduate, and if you're not in the IB program, you can't get into the 13th year program.

The 13th year, because it is with the I.B. program, has different classes than what is offered at the other schools. More language options for example. Take a 3rd or 4th or 5th year of Spanish or German. Those classes are not offered at the regular home school. The I.B. English and History, are different. Kids might graduate the high school without Physics or without a higher level math. Or, a kid might want to re-take Algebra II as well. Fine. A new teacher, a year or two of extra maturity, a new setting could be welcomed and allow for academic success. But, by-and-large, the offerings are going to be different in the 13th year than the choices from the home school from prior years.

Background: A objection above was about getting kids to another site other than a home school. Well, kids in all grades who are going to a magnet school, (a school of choice) within the Pittsburgh Public Schools framework are already departing their home schools. You can go to CAPA, and you can't go to your home school. You can go to I.B., and you can't go to your home school. You can go to U-Prep, Science & Tech, or the Engineering Magnet at Allderdice and then not go to your home school.