If all goes as planned, next year students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools who are struggling with math will be able to access a tutor around the clock whether they are stumped by homework after school or working independently in class.
The tutoring service is one effort the Pittsburgh district is making to deal with math proficiency rates that have plunged to alarming levels, particularly among Black students, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions to education.
At five Pittsburgh elementary schools, the math proficiency rate among Black students was 0 percent, according to results of the 2021 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams released in March. The proficiency rates at five other Pittsburgh elementary schools were under 2 percent for Black students.