Education category, Page 45
Teacher appreciation? Try better pay, more governors say
HARRISBURG — As schools across the country struggle to find teachers to hire, more governors are pushing for pay increases, bonuses and other perks for the beleaguered profession — with some vowing to beat out other states competing for educators. Already in 2023, governors in Georgia and Arkansas have pushed...
Security measures upped at Hempfield after threat concerns
Students at Hempfield Area School District will continue to be screened with metal detectors before entering school buildings. The decision was made after a student last week reported seeing a threatening message in a bathroom that referenced guns. The screening and other security measures began Friday. According to an email...
To improve kids’ mental health, some schools start later
DREXEL HILL, Pa. — In the hours before he’s due at Upper Darby High School, senior Khalid Doulat has time to say prayers, help his mother or prepare for track practice. It’s a welcome shift from last year for him and thousands of students at the school, which pushed its...
Oprah tells class of 2023 to follow ‘still, small voice’
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Oprah Winfrey delighted graduates at her alma mater Tennessee State University on Saturday, telling the story of how she fell one credit short of graduating as she launched the media career that would make her a household name. Giving the commencement address at the historically Black university,...
Bill Cowher talks leadership, Steelers draft, Pickett at Duquesne graduation as he receives honorary degreeVideo
Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach and Crafton native Bill Cowher has a life full of accomplishments. He coached the Steelers for 15 seasons, leading them to two Super Bowls and winning one. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Since retiring from the Steelers, he has successfully...
Duquesne’s new grant match program targets transfer students as way to boost enrollment
Transfer students — long an afterthought when colleges had plenty of teens to recruit straight out of high school — these days are being courted by four-year campuses to keep enrollments healthy. The latest example comes from Duquesne University. Beginning this summer, Duquesne says it will match up to $20,400...
New Kensington-Arnold elementary students create robot pets, learn coding at Digital Foundry
New Kensington-Arnold elementary students turned cardboard boxes into robotic animals over the course of an eight-week program at the Digital Foundry. A giraffe, a chameleon, a dragon and a capybara were among the animals a group of fourth and fifth grade students from Roy A. Hunt Elementary in Arnold created...
History, civics scores of U.S. students dipped amid pandemic
Test scores in history and civics have declined slightly for eighth grade students in the U.S., according to results that show an increasing number of children lack a basic understanding of either subject. The scores were released Wednesday by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The same assessment reported in...
HBCUs get donations 178 times lower than Ivy League: study
The average historically Black college and university received 178 times less funding from foundations than the average Ivy League school in 2019, according to a new report on the underfunding of HBCUs released Tuesday. The study — conducted by the philanthropic research group Candid and ABFE, a nonprofit that advocates...
Man who gave $1M to IUP’s osteopathic medicine school explains why he donated
Rich Caruso was skeptical when he learned his alma mater, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, wanted to boost rural physician access by opening the commonwealth’s first school for osteopathic medicine on a state university campus. Then his 101-year-old mother, Margaret, got sick. What happened next to the woman who lives in...
Gainey appoints new education coordinator for Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has named Alexis Walker to be the city’s new education coordinator. The appointment, announced Monday, will be funded through a $175,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments. Walker, 26, of the North Side, previously served as the GirlGov program manager at the Women and Girls Foundation. In...
‘Waste of time’: Community college transfers derail students
First came the good news. After taking classes at a community college, Ricki Korba was admitted to California State University, Bakersfield, as a transfer student. But when she logged on to her student account, she got a gut punch: Most of her previous classes wouldn’t count. The university rejected most...
Grant will support students completing college education through Seton Hill online program
Between 18 and 20 Pennsylvania residents who have fallen short of fulfilling their college goals will have a chance to finish their education through a grant-supported program at Seton Hill University. Seton Hill is partnering with the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board to identify potential students for a Near Completer program....
Penn State University trustees to weigh spending $70 million for first phase of Beaver Stadium renovation
Penn State University appears poised to move forward with the first phase of renovating Beaver Stadium, a closely watched project to extend the life of one of the nation’s largest and most familiar college football venues. University trustees, due to meet Friday, May 5 at University Park, are expected to...
Commencement season gets underway
A friend asked Katy Nesbitt what’s more stressful: Being second-guessed by thousands of screaming World Cup soccer fans in a gigantic stadium or giving the commencement speech at her alma mater. The first American woman to referee at a men’s World Cup, Nesbitt laughed at the thought, knowing she will...
Woodland Hills district makes historic effort to cut property taxes
Homeowners in the Woodland Hills School District will get a break on their property taxes under a preliminary budget approved on Wednesday. The school board voted 8-1 to approve a 0.5 mil reduction on their tax bill for the 2023-2024 school year. Woodland Hills says its the first tax cut...
Hempfield book acquisition, challenge regulations advance for future vote
Parents in Hempfield Area School District remain divided over whether books that some deem objectionable should be taught in the classroom or available in the library. The school board this week advanced a policy that has been in the works for about a year that could be adopted in June....
Pitt names next dean of university’s School of Arts and Sciences
A nationwide search to find a new dean for the University of Pittsburgh’s largest school has led to an educator already working on campus. Adam K. Leibovich, described by Pitt officials as a prolific scholar and accomplished teacher, will become dean of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and...
Decision on Hempfield middle school redistricting postponed until May
Parents of Hempfield Area middle school students will have to wait a little longer to get concrete answers on where their students will attend classes next year, as the school board postponed its vote this week on an updated redistricting plan until May 8. Under the first proposal approved in...
Tuition discounting by private colleges and universities reaches new high
Sticker prices at private colleges may be sky high, but what many students actually pay has been lower as those schools aggressively compete by dangling deep tuition discounts. Now, a new study finds that for the first time, entering and returning undergraduates at those schools, on average, are paying less...
Affordability remains top issue for Pa.’s state-related universities during budget process
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. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities are asking the legislature for a long-awaited budget increase,...
As Pitt imposes ticket limit on graduation ceremony, some worry that family will be left out
The April 19 message sent to University of Pittsburgh students readying for graduation Sunday began routinely enough: “We are very excited that so many graduates will be joining us at the universitywide commencement ceremony on April 30, ” it read. Then came the next sentence, posted in bold: “Due to...
New Hempfield book challenge, acquisition rules up for vote
After more than a year of debate, Hempfield Area School Board is set to vote on new book selection and challenge regulations for the district’s libraries. The draft regulations, which were discussed by board members in January, would set guidelines for preventing sexually explicit content from entering or staying in...
No ‘au revoir’ just yet: Penn-Trafford to keep French program, for now
French language courses at Penn-Trafford School District won’t be going away anytime soon. After previously announcing the program would be phased out because of a lack of enrollment and the retirement of the district’s longtime high school French teacher, the Penn-Trafford School Board decided last week to continue the program,...
Hempfield seventh graders celebrate ‘Day of Service’
Students at Hempfield Area School District’s Wendover Middle School got to take a break from classwork to spend time helping those in need through a “Day of Service” event organized by seventh grade teachers. During their school day, 120 students across five homerooms replaced their usual classes with three service...
