The Pittsburgh school board spends a lot of time discussing topics, but precious little making any significant policy decisions, according to a board watch report card released Tuesday by the advocacy group, A+ Schools.

The board earned yet another B-, the same grade it has maintained since last year, for making lackluster improvements in its governance practices and procedures. This time, the watchdog group, which was formed in 2004 to push for school reform in the city schools, said the school board still needs to work on role clarity.

"Much work is still left to be done in the area of creating a deliberate time and process for policy-making," stated the group's report. It recommended that the school board adopt a method of keeping track of policy discussions, which are constant fodder for debate.

"A+ Schools asks the Pittsburgh Public School Board to better fulfill their role as policy-makers by creating a deliberate time and process for the act of policy-making," concluded the report.

More information is available at www.aplusschools.org.

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