Education category, Page 51
Survey asks Duquesne students about race, gender, sexuality as classroom topics
Students at Duquesne University received emails this month asking them to take a short survey to identify topics — such as race, gender and sexuality — that can make them uncomfortable when raised in class. It asks them to describe cases where professors responded well or poorly. “Recently, students have...
Pittsburgh Public School board member Kevin Carter won’t seek re-election
After serving two terms, Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Kevin Carter announced Thursday that he will not seek re-election. Carter, 33, was the youngest person ever elected to the school board when he took office in December 2015. He replaced longtime incumbent Mark Brently in PPS District 8, which includes...
Pittsburgh Career Institute juggles refunds, transfers, job losses as closure approaches
The president of a Pittsburgh for-profit career school that is headed for closure says its leaders sought a new accreditor and even considered selling the school but ultimately decided it had to close. Patti Yakshe said that her health care training school, Pittsburgh Career Institute, itself faced no sanctions from...
After pandemic plunge, international enrollment on nation’s campuses rebounds
A year after absorbing historic pandemic-driven losses, international enrollment at colleges in Pennsylvania and nationwide has rebounded, spurred by an 80% jump in new students and other gains, a new report says. The New York-based nonprofit Institute of International Education, in a survey released Monday, says the nation’s total international...
Hundreds of Penn State faculty are publicly and privately questioning university leadership
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. STATE COLLEGE — Hundreds of Penn State employees are challenging the university president’s leadership and...
Tuition border wars: Using Penn State threshold, SUNY the latest to target Pa. high schoolers
The pitch delivered on Twitter got right to the point: “If your high schooler wants to go to college in New York, the State University of New York offers same in-state tuition as Penn State.” In recent days, SUNY has made similar overtures in seven other states, mostly in the...
Penn State trustees set to vote on proposed $95M residence hall project at University Park
The sixth and final phase of work on Penn State University’s largest main campus residence complex is one step closer to moving forward now that a trustee committee has endorsed the proposed $95.3 million project. Penn State’s full Board of Trustees is scheduled to act on a project called East...
In 1 classroom, 4 teachers manage 135 kids — and love it
MESA, Ariz. — A teacher-in-training darted among students, tallying how many needed his help with a history unit on Islam. A veteran math teacher hovered near a cluster of desks, coaching some 50 freshmen on a geometry assignment. A science teacher checked students’ homework, while an English teacher spoke into...
Western Pa. campuses vow to stay diverse amid Supreme Court’s mulling of race-based admissions
If the U.S. Supreme Court prohibits universities from considering race in admissions, overturning four decades of legal precedent, campuses in Western Pennsylvania and across the country say they’ll still look for ways to make their enrollments diverse. “It will definitely have an effect on schools,” said Ann Schiavone, an associate...
Why Black faculty are questioning Penn State’s commitment to diversity, anti-racism
With Penn State in the spotlight for scrapping plans for a Center for Racial Justice, Black faculty members are questioning the university’s commitment to diversity and anti-racism — and a co-author of two reports that previously outlined Penn State’s shortcomings says its latest response simply isn’t good enough. At least...
New Stanton man, Seton Hill cybersecurity teacher, wins scholarship for IUP doctoral work
There has never been more need for cybersecurity , given growing concerns about cyberattacks on businesses and institutions and the threat of meddling on behalf of other countries. Brad Messner of New Stanton is teaching potential cybersecurity professionals at Greensburg’s Seton Hill University while continuing his own education in the...
Penn State cancels its Center for Racial Justice after faculty push for funding decision
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. STATE COLLEGE — Penn State will not launch its Center for Racial Justice, a key...
Design work to begin on $22M expansion of IUP’s growing Academy of Culinary Arts
Design work for a $22 million project in Punxsutawney to expand and renovate Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Academy of Culinary Arts is expected to start now that funding to develop drawings has been approved. The $2.9 million for that work, included in the State System of Higher Education’s recently adopted...
Test scores show historic covid setbacks for kids across U.S.Video
WASHINGTON — The covid-19 pandemic caused historic learning setbacks for America’s children, sparing no state or region as it erased decades of academic progress and widened racial disparities, according to results of a national test that provide the sharpest look yet at the scale of the crisis. Across the country,...
Here’s how to apply for student loan forgiveness
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. announced in August, will cancel up to $20,000 in debt per borrower. The application process is now open, and the administration says the forms should take five minutes to complete. Borrowers who apply before mid-November should see forgiveness before Jan....
Application site launches for Biden student debt cancellation
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Education Department has begun accepting applications for President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation — a plan that makes 43 million Americans eligible for at least some debt forgiveness. Borrowers were notified late Friday that an early, “beta launch” version of a new online form was made...
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...
