Education category, Page 52
Oliver Citywide Academy students to resume in-person classes
After spending the past two weeks learning remotely, students at Pittsburgh’s Oliver Citywide Academy were scheduled to be back for in-person classes Monday. Students were sent home Sept. 29 after school officials said an attack on a teacher was carried out by a 15-year-old student in an empty classroom. Pittsburgh...
Carnegie Mellon’s African campus works to foster digital transformation
It started with about 30 students, half a world away, getting a Carnegie Mellon education in Rwanda. Eleven years later, the number of students has increased tenfold as CMU-Africa aims to be a key player in the digital transformation of the continent, according to CMU College of Engineering Dean Bill...
With teachers in short supply, states ease job requirements
As schools across the South grapple with teacher shortages, many are turning to candidates without teaching certificates or formal training. Alabama administrators increasingly have hired educators with emergency certifications, often in low-income and majority-Black neighborhoods. Texas, meanwhile, allowed about one in five new teachers to sidestep certification last school year....
ACT test scores drop to lowest in 30 years in pandemic slide
PHOENIX — Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of the enormity of learning disruption during the pandemic. The class of 2022’s average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36,...
Pittsburgh hosting Walk and Roll to School Day Wednesday to encourage walking, biking to school
Pittsburgh on Wednesday is hosting its biannual Walk and Roll to School Day, an event that encourages students to walk or bike to class. It’s part of the Safe Routes to School program, which aims to increase the number of students who walk or bike to school by offering education,...
Firm helps link Greensburg Salem students, families to mental health services
Greensburg Salem School District is partnering with a California firm to help students, staff and their families seeking mental health and substance abuse assistance. Care Solace is charged with helping Greensburg Salem clients navigate the mental health care system —matching their needs with available providers. After receiving parent permission, students...
Student loan relief explainer for Pennsylvanians: who qualifies and when to apply
The Biden administration soon will roll out the most far-reaching federal student loan relief plan in American history — and borrowers must heed dates to benefit. In August, the administration announced it would cancel up to $10,000 of student debt for non-Pell Grant recipients and up to $20,000 for Pell...
Community colleges tapped to address cybersecurity talent gap
Waleed Farag knows all too well the growing need for computer systems security professionals. As director of Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Cyber Security, he is hoping to address the steadily increasing demand for computer-based professionals by tapping the resources of six community colleges, including Westmoreland County Community College....
To fill teacher jobs, community colleges offer new degrees
In her second-grade classroom outside Seattle, Fatima Nuñez Ardon often tells her students stories about everyday people realizing their dreams. One day, for example, she talked about Salvadoran American NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio and his journey to the International Space Station. Another day, she told them her own life story...
Kids with disabilities face off-the-books school suspensions
The phone call from her son’s school was alarming. The assistant principal told her to come to the school immediately. But when Lisa Manwell arrived at Pioneer Middle School in Plymouth, Michigan, her son wasn’t sick or injured. He was sitting calmly in the principal’s office. John, who has ADHD...
Free college? Some Allegheny College students won’t pay tuition anymore
Some Allegheny College students don’t have to worry about tuition bills anymore. The Meadville college announced it is introducing a Commitment to Access Program that will cover all tuition costs for in-state students whose family income is $50,000 or less. The program, which will kick off in fall 2023, will...
Some Western Pa. students grapple with post-covid learning loss
Before the pandemic, Alana Griffin said her son was advanced in his academics. Now, she said, she considers the 9-year-old to be at an average level. Her other son, who is 8, needs to catch up in reading and math, she said. Though her children see a weekly tutor, the...
Pitt-Greensburg to display art, honor alumni, hold festival during Blue & Gold Homecoming Celebration
The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg will honor outstanding alumni, showcase campus and local art and host festival activities during its annual Blue & Gold Homecoming Celebration continuing through Saturday. The art show is underway at Millstein Library on campus. Running through Oct. 7 on the library’s second floor, it...
Libertarian group sues to block student debt cancellation
A libertarian group in California filed a legal challenge to President Joe Biden’s plan for student debt cancellation on Tuesday, calling it an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven. The lawsuit, believed to be the first targeting Biden’s plan, was...
Penn State officials hope for 47% increase in state general support funding
Penn State officials plan to aim high in their 202-24 state funding request. On Friday, the Board of Trustees will vote on whether to approve a request for an additional $115 million in general support funding from the state. If approved by legislators, that would bring the university’s general support...
How to get a student loan refund if you paid during pandemic
NEW YORK — When President Joe Biden announced a plan to forgive student loan debt, many borrowers who kept making payments during the pandemic wondered if they’d made the right choice. Borrowers who paid down their debt during a pandemic freeze that started in March 2020 can in fact get...
Efforts to ban, restrict LGBTQ curriculum in Pa. schools hinge on who becomes the next governor
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — As a closeted gay child growing up in Lancaster in the 1990s, J Eric Fisher didn’t feel safe. He...
Why did Penn State create a new VP position during a hiring freeze?
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our regional newsletter, Talk of the Town. The Penn State Transparency Tracker is an ongoing effort by Spotlight PA to document and...
Teacher shortages are real, but not for the reason you heard
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Everywhere, it seems, back-to-school has been shadowed by worries of a teacher shortage. The U.S. education secretary has called for investment to keep teachers from quitting. A teachers union leader has described it as a five-alarm emergency. News coverage has warned of a crisis in teaching. In...
No-cost pre-K program to accept more children in Greensburg, Mt. Pleasant areas thanks to state funding
Since Frock Childcare Learning Center began offering a free pre-K program, the center has served a “broader range” of local children and families, Frock teacher Lauren Markiewicz said. Two years ago, the Mt. Pleasant center partnered with the Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette to offer Pre-K Counts, a division of...
Free breakfasts for all Pa. schoolchildren to start soon
Pennsylvania parents will soon be able to check making breakfast off their list of things to do in the morning rush to get their children ready for school. Starting Oct. 1 and running through the remainder of the 2022-23 school year, that morning meal will be provided in schools. Gov....
Pittsburgh Public Schools, city pledge to provide students with more jobs, internships
Students participating in the Career and Technical Education program at Pittsburgh Public Schools will have increased access to job shadowing, paid internships and jobs, city and school officials announced Friday. A partnership between the city, the school district and local corporate partners aims to prepare students for the workforce and...
Saint Vincent College to break ground for new recreation and athletic center
Saint Vincent College is set to break ground Friday for its new Dunlap Family Recreation and Athletic Center. The new 72,000-square-foot building will be located near the Fred Rogers Center on the college’s campus in Unity. It will include facilities for recreation and exercise, intramural athletic competition and varsity athletic...
Grant funds app to support mental wellness for Seton Hill athletes
Seton Hill University is partnering with digital platform The Zone to help student-athletes connect to mental health services. Supported by a $25,000 grant from the Staunton Farm Foundation of Pittsburgh, the university will offer a mobile app to Seton Hill athletes, allowing them to request tele-help for mental health issues...
Franklin Regional Panther Foundation to fund gardens, microscopes, mariachi festival
The latest round of grant funding by the nonprofit Franklin Regional Panther Foundation will help fund a portable podcast studio, a mariachi festival and much more. Franklin Regional Senior High School teacher Jim Passarelli secured a $9,900 grant that will allow the district to take advantage of a long-abandoned area....
