When Barbara McDonnell was appointed the community education liaison for the Duquesne City School District in fall 2008, one of her major responsibilities was to track the progress of high school students from Duquesne who were assigned to East Allegheny and West Mifflin Area high schools and other academic institutions.

But she found the task daunting, because there was no official tracking system.

That has now changed, according to a report that Ms. McDonnell gave late last month to the state board of control that oversees the Duquesne district.

She said she has worked with officials from East Allegheny and West Mifflin Area to create an electronic tracking and communication plan that will allow information about the students to flow freely among the school systems and to parents and students. There also is an accurate roster of students and a centralized registration process.

"Everybody wanted a road map because there wasn't one," Ms. McDonnell said.

Duquesne High School closed in June 2007, and, through an act of the state legislature, high school students in Duquesne were assigned to attend either East Allegheny or West Mifflin Area high schools.

As of late February, Ms. McDonnell said 63 Duquesne students are enrolled at East Allegheny and 140 at West Mifflin.

In addition, 54 Duquesne students are in out-of-district placements at 12 sites. Out-of-district placements can be made for a variety of reasons, including behavior, special needs, court placements or alternative education.

In looking at current student performance, Ms. McDonnell said Duquesne students are struggling in math. The students are scoring proficient or higher in reading while in math they are scoring basic or below basic on interim assessment tests.

"And in the classroom, we are seeing more students earning A's and B's in reading and C's and lower in math," Ms. McDonnell said.

Ms. McDonnell now also is keeping track of student behaviors, including tardiness, altercations, class disruptions and unexcused absences.

"We still have students who have a high unexcused [absence] rate. We try to stress that you can be a straight-A student and if you miss 20 [unexcused] days in a school year, you will fail," Ms. McDonnell said.

She said she makes contact with parents and students on the issue with phone calls, meetings and written materials.

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