Johnson Serves on School Reorganization Committee
Michael P. Johnson, Associate Professor of Management and Public Affairs,
is a member of the School Reorganization Working Committee convened by
incoming Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Mark Roosevelt.
This committee, working with RAND Pittsburgh and a number of Pittsburgh
Public School staff, helped design a program of school and academic program
closings, openings and resizings in order to save money and improve student
achievement. The committee used analyses that rank school quality
according to multiple variables, including standardized test scores and
student socio-economic status. The committee used these ranking to help
identify changes to programs and buildings while ensuring that the schools
that remain open are high-quality and cost-effective, and that students
from schools that close are assigned either to higher-performing schools or
to schools that will receive intensive educational assistance in the form
of special enrichment programs.
Johnson's research focuses on design and implementation of decision-support
methodologies for public-sector facility location problems. This work
requires computation of economic and equity impact measures relevant to
multiple stakeholders, identification of appropriate planning models and
solution methods, and visualization of model inputs and outputs with the
assistance of geographic information systems.
According to Johnson, "I believe that this process has been one that has
been collegial yet committed to making hard decisions on using clear
criteria that can be easily communicated to the public and the PPS Board of
Directors. I went into this process thinking of it as some sort of
real-world operations research application, and leave the process convinced
that citizens who ask tough questions but trust in administrators to act in
the best interests of clients can have real and beneficial impacts on
policy initiatives."
Johnson founded and co-directs the Carnegie Mellon University/University of
Pittsburgh Applied Decision Modeling Seminar Series, and serves on the
advisory board of the Cyber-Lounge at Wilkinsburg, a cafe combining
information technology, education and youth services in an economically
disadvantaged neighborhood. He is a board member of the Highland Park
Community Development Corporation and has directed the development of a
community plan for Highland Park. Previously, he has served as instructor
for the InfoLink program, a Heinz School information technology enrichment
initiative for high school-age youth from technologically-underserved
areas. Professor Johnson has also assisted the Urban League of Pittsburgh
in designing and implementing an agency-wide information technology
strategy.