A MESSAGE FROM
Dr. Randal A. Lutz
Superintendent of Schools, Baldwin-Whitehall School District
Dear Baldwin-Whitehall Families and Citizens, aldwin-Whitehall BALDWIN-WHITEHALL SCHOOL DISTRICT NEWS
As you know, our Baldwin-Whitehall School District is one of Pittsburgh’ s most demographically diverse districts, with a high percentage of immigrants and first-generation Americans. We pride ourselves on our diversity and inclusivity, and we strive to help each student and family become welcome members of our community.
But our belief in celebrating our community as individuals doesn’ t stop at the classroom door. In fact, as you’ re about to see, focusing our attention on the specific educational needs of each individual student has helped us earn some of the best aptitude results in our District’ s history— and we’ re just getting started!
In the following pages, you’ ll hear about some of our newest reasons to celebrate, like a District science teacher who won a competition to learn from NASA engineers, and a revolutionary special-needs program that’ s helping our District’ s differently-abled students succeed beyond their wildest dreams. As you read these stories, you may be wondering:“ Is all this extra effort worth it?” The answer is a resounding YES! For evidence, consider our School Performance Profiles( SPP). These comprehensive statewide annual progress reports measure how well each school prepares its students for college and careers. In 2016, Baldwin High School ' s SPP score was a 93.4— the highest score in the school ' s history, and the fourth-best score in the entire Pittsburgh region.
How did we do it? It’ s a much longer story than we can share in these pages, but I can point to two vital factors: we empower our teachers to innovate on behalf of their students, and we’ ve focused on improving our students’ abilities, individually and without exception.
Giving our students individual attention doesn’ t mean we hold everyone to a different standard. Rather, it means we expect every student to rise to the challenge of improving themselves at their own rate— and it means we expect each teacher and staff member to dedicate themselves to that same goal. As our SPPs are starting to prove, our process works.
We’ re proving that great strides can be made to improve learning outcomes for everyone when students, teachers, and staff all share a winning mindset, refuse to make excuses, and value individual growth as the hallmark of success.
I look forward to sharing more successes with you as our process continues to illustrate how great America’ s public education system can truly be when we’ re all aligned in the conscious commitment that our life’ s work is an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students.
Together, we are redefining the standard for individual success and believe that every single one of our 4,237 students can achieve more than they ever imagined. And when they do, we’ ll move the bar even higher. From all we’ ve seen so far, we should expect to be amazed.
Sincerely, Dr. Randal A. Lutz Superintendent of Schools
HOUSTON, WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY!
80 Brentwood-Baldwin-Whitehall
Harrison Middle School’ s Debbie Reynolds was one of 36 U. S. science teachers invited to join the nationwide Space Educator Expedition Crew Program in Houston, TX, this past February. Reynolds took part in seven educational sessions led primarily by NASA scientists, and then she’ ll apply those lessons to her experience leading the innovative IKS Highlander science simulator at Harrison.
“ Our IKS Highlander is one of six such science simulators nationwide,” Reynolds explains.“ Our District was fortunate enough to receive a grant from the Grable Foundation to build one here at Harrison Middle School. The simulator provides an immersive educational experience for our students, where they are launched into space, inside a volcano, or even under the ocean to complete a mission. I serve as the Flight Director and facilitate the learning experience. We also have the capability to design our own missions, and that is what I am hoping to do after my experience at the Space Center.”
Reynolds’ work with the IKS Highlander helps students develop their skills in math, science, engineering, and creative problem solving by exposing them to“ real world” problems in their fantastic situations – all critical skills to develop for a career in the 21st Century and beyond. The District community congratulates Ms. Reynolds for her incredible work- consistently expanding learning opportunities for our students.