A new "report card" gives the Pittsburgh school board a B- for its performance -- up from a C+ a few months ago -- though the group monitoring the board said little actually changed for the better.

The Downtown advocacy group A+ Schools graded the board on five areas -- focus, transparency, conduct, competence and exercising its proper role -- then calculated an overall average.

The board regressed in two areas -- conduct and role -- and improved only in transparency. But that was enough to shift the overall average from a 3.32, which the group considers a C+, to a 3.35, which it considers a B-.

Here are the list of grades and scores for the two report cards, with the March data in parentheses:

• Focus: C+ -- 3.24 (C+ -- 3.28)

• Transparency: B+ -- 4.02 (B- -- 3.51)

• Conduct: C+ -- 3.25 (B- -- 3.43)

• Role: C -- 2.98 (C+ -- 3.1)

• Competence: C+ -- 3.27 (C+ -- 3.28)

A+ Schools, which started its "Board Watch" program in January, has trained a cadre of volunteers to observe agenda and legislative meetings.

In the new report card, the board's grade for transparency improved, in part, because the board put agenda materials online before meetings.

The grade for conduct dropped because of contentious meetings in recent months. The board's grade for exercising its proper role dropped because of the amount of time the board spent on small details instead of policy-making and strategy, A+ Schools said.

Carey Harris, executive director of A+ Schools, acknowledged that state law sometimes requires a school board to address routine matters better left to paid administrators. The group said the board should lobby for a change in the law freeing it from "administrative and managerial tasks."

School board President Theresa Colaizzi wasn't immediately available to comment on the report card.