Harrisburg School District

The Harrisburg School District is a public school district based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The school district boundaries are synonymous with the city of Harrisburg.

Harrisburg public schools provide education for the city's youth, beginning with preschool through twelfth grade. There are over 11,000 students in the district and roughly 1,200 faculty and staff. A multi-year restructuring and reform plan is aimed at making the district a model urban educational system.

In July 2000, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a ruling that upholds the law adopted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and signed by then Governor Tom Ridge, that permitted a change in the governance of the Harrisburg School District from an elected school board, to a board of control named by Harrisburg mayor Stephen R. Reed, and which gave the mayor direct oversight of the troubled district. It was the first time a mayor had taken on the role in the state. Since then, graduation rates are up 71 per-cent and the number of students continuing to higher education are up 263 per-cent. [cite web| url=http://www.citymayors.com/mayors/harrisburg_mayor.html| date=July 13, 2006| title=Stephen Reed, Mayor of Harrisburg| first=Brian| last=Baker| publisher=citymayor.com/| accessdate=2007-01-14]

In 2006 Harrisburg High School was in Corrective Action 2 (third year) for No Child Left Behind. Eleventh graders' PSSA Reading scores were 33.2% achieving proficient or better. Eleventh grade Mathematics scores were 18.9% proficient or better. The graduation rate in 2006 was 62.9%, a decline from 74.51% in 2005.

In 2007, Pittsburgh Business Times ranked the district 498th out of 498 Pennsylvania school districts based on three years of Pennsylvania System of Student Assessment test scores. [Pittsburgh Business Times Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools, June 2007.] District Superintendent Gerald Kohn rebuted the ranking saying the district is showing improvement since 2002. [Luciew, John, "Harrisburg schools rebut 'state's worst' label" The Patriot News, June 27, 2007.] Harrisburg district had 15.5 percent of students scoring advanced or proficient in reading and math on the state tests in March 2002. By March, 2006, the district had increased that number to 23.6 percent ["Harrisburg District Scores over time 2006", Standard and Poors - School Matters Report] -- a 52.3 percent improvement that landed the district at 25 in its own ranking system.

For the 2006-2007 school year, the district received a $13.5 million grant to support its all-grade alternative school at the William Penn building, a program credited with improving discipline and performance across the district.

Mayor Stephen R. Reed has been in charge of the district since a takeover approved by the state in 2000.

Pennsylvania State University conducted a phone survey of 6th grade parents in 2003. Questions focused on parent awareness of services available to students. [http://cas.la.psu.edu/research/maternal/documents/harrisburg_district_report.pdf Harrisburg School District Student Services 2003]

chools

The district has the following schools:

References

External links

* [http://www.hbgsd.k12.pa.us/ Harrisburg School District]
* [http://www.hbgpsf.org/ Harrisburg Public School Foundation]