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Director Yord presses district on Wayfinder use as staff say lessons extend beyond log‑ins
Summary
At an agenda-review meeting, Director Yord asked how the district is spending $1,000,000 on the Wayfinder SEL contract when fewer than one-third of students appear to log in; assistant superintendent Dawn Golden and Superintendent Dr. Walters said Wayfinder lessons are used across all schools even when students do not log into the platform and staff are developing additional building supports.
Director Yord questioned how Pittsburgh Public Schools is spending $1,000,000 on the Wayfinder social-emotional learning contract while apparent student log-in data show limited platform use.
"So I guess my question is, how are we spending 1000000 dollars on something that's meant to be utilized across the entire school district, but only a third of our students are using it?" Director Yord said during the board's agenda-review meeting on May 20.
Dawn Golden, assistant superintendent for student support services, said Wayfinder is intended to be used across the district and that staff are developing supports to help buildings struggling with implementation. "The current expectation for Wayfinder is that it is used throughout the district," Golden said, adding that the district is building a system to support schools that need help implementing the curriculum.
Superintendent Dr. Walters said that district use of Wayfinder can take different forms and that student log-ins undercount classroom implementation. "All schools in the district are using Wayfinder, and it may come in different forms," Walters said, noting that students do not always log in even when teachers are using Wayfinder lessons in class.
Board members asked how utilization will increase so the district receives the intended benefit from the contract. Golden said the district is in year three of implementation and that her office is working with the team that oversees social-emotional learning to support educators and buildings.
No formal action or vote was taken on the contract during the agenda-review. The exchange occurred during the education section of the agenda; staff indicated they will continue work to support wider classroom implementation and to provide clearer usage reporting to the board.
Next steps: Board members raised implementation and reporting expectations; staff said they will continue to develop building-level supports and to clarify usage metrics ahead of future updates.
