Education category, Page 56
Balancing hopes, dreams and a low-paying college major
Humanities majors are more than a punchline. Not everyone can or wants to be a STEM major, and the world would be a poorer place if they were. To have great things to read, music that inspires, perspectives that challenge us — to have a sense of reward and meaning...
Carnegie Science Center offers free programs to North Side families
Children may never be more enamored with the wonders of science than when they’re in their pre-kindergarten years. The Carnegie Science Center believes children who engage their curiosity by asking questions when they’re between the ages of 3-5 build a strong foundation for skills they can use later in life....
IUP plans tuition break for in-state undergrads, reverting back to flat-rate model
Indiana University of Pennsylvania is proposing a tuition break for in-state undergraduates beginning next fall by moving back to a flat-rate billing model. Under the plan, students who live in Pennsylvania and are enrolled in courses totaling between 12 and 18 credits per semester would pay $7,716 in annual tuition,...
Leechburg students present projects on influential figures for Black History Month
To highlight the impact Black people have had in society, Leechburg High School students in Honors American History 2 gave Black History Month presentations Thursday morning. “We wanted to do something that was taught beyond the textbook to recognize individuals who have greatly shaped our history,” social studies teacher Scott...
Pittsburgh Public Schools to launch national search for new superintendent
Pittsburgh Public Schools is looking to hire consultants to help it conduct a national search for a new superintendent. Former PPS superintendent Anthony Hamlet resigned in October after the district received criticism over in-person schooling decisions related to the pandemic and the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission found Hamlet violated the state’s...
GOP-led Arizona Senate OKs huge school voucher expansion
PHOENIX — Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate approved a massive expansion of the state’s school voucher system on Wednesday, a contentious proposal the sponsor says is aimed at low-income students but that also adds wealthier parents who could use public money to pay for private schools. The measure would make as many...
Wolf renews higher-ed scholarship idea, amid worker shortage
HARRISBURG — Two years after he first proposed it, Gov. Tom Wolf is trying to engage the Legislature anew in his bid to start a major new scholarship program for college students in Pennsylvania, but on Wednesday said the idea has new urgency because of difficulties in finding workers across...
Westmoreland Intermediate Unit offers free course to help bolster substitute teacher ranks
On a school day in November, Allegheny Valley School District officials had 11 teachers off work and only one substitute to call in. The district was considering using some of its American Rescue Plan funding to help bring in additional substitutes, serving as yet another example of a district struggling...
Budget report on Pa. education agency provokes spat between lawmakers, watchdogs
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 — With a single sentence tucked 15 pages into an otherwise dry budget report on the state Department of Education,...
From campus to Congress, colleges urged to end legacy boost
America’s elite colleges are facing growing calls to end the decades-old tradition of giving an admissions boost to the children of alumni — a practice that critics say is rooted in racism and bestows an unfair advantage to students who need it least. Fueled by the national reckoning with racial...
Gifts to foundation fuel stadium, STEM upgrades at Derry Area School District
Donors are needed to help the Derry Area School District Foundation keep driving forward with projects to enhance athletics, academics and agricultural and arts programs for students. That’s the goal of the foundation’s Four A’s Initiative, a Trojan’s Spear Alumni Association effort. The initiative has raised $450,000 in charitable contributions...
Revamped program aims to teach good behaviors at Hunt Elementary School
A revamped program aimed at teaching and reinforcing good behaviors among students is being rolled out at New Kensington-Arnold’s Roy A. Hunt Elementary School. As part of the program’s debut on Monday, the school’s 620 students will get to cheer on teachers and staff in volleyball games, first with third...
Christian revival at school prompts student walkout in W.Va.
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Between calculus and European history classes at a West Virginia public high school, 16-year-old Cameron Mays and his classmates were told by their teacher to go to an evangelical Christian revival assembly. When students arrived at the event in the school’s auditorium, they were instructed to close...
Greensburg diocese excited by 20% bump in Catholic school enrollment
Despite the past two years being hampered by the covid-19 pandemic, officials at the Catholic Diocese of Greensburg are encouraged by other trends that have emerged over the past 24 months — namely, a 20% bump in Catholic school enrollment across the diocese. “I think that’s outstanding,” said Bishop Larry...
Book about Holocaust banned in Tennessee school districtVideo
ATHENS, Tenn. — A Tennessee school district has voted to ban a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust due to “inappropriate language” and an illustration of a nude woman, according to minutes from a board meeting. The McMinn County School Board decided Jan. 10 to remove “Maus” from its...
Report looks at how Wilkinsburg annexation would impact Pittsburgh Public Schools
Proponents of Pittsburgh’s proposed annexation of Wilkinsburg have shared data regarding a potential merger of Wilkinsburg’s schools with Pittsburgh Public Schools, ahead of a final vote on the measure expected within the next two weeks. Wilkinsburg Community Development Corp., the group that spearheaded the effort to have Wilkinsburg annexed into...
Carnegie Mellon University going back to in-person learning
With the latest wave of the omicron variant peaking and beginning to taper off, Carnegie Mellon University is allowing a large majority of its classes to once again be taken in person. A campuswide email signed by provost Jim Garrett, dean of students Gina Casalegno and vice-president of operations and...
SAT going digital in shifting college admissions landscape
The SAT exam will move from paper and pencil to a digital format, administrators announced Tuesday, saying the shift will boost its relevancy as more colleges make standardized tests optional for admission. Test-takers will be allowed to use their own laptops or tablets but they’ll still have to sit for...
Graduation rates dip across U.S. as pandemic stalls progress
High school graduation rates dipped in at least 20 states after the first full school year disrupted by the pandemic, suggesting the coronavirus may have ended nearly two decades of nationwide progress toward getting more students diplomas, an analysis shows. The drops came despite at least some states and educators...
Extra covid tests from feds unlikely to make much difference in Western Pa. schools
A White House plan to deliver millions of covid-19 tests to schools by the end of the month likely won’t change much in Western Pennsylvania. Those already using the tests appreciate the extra resources. The rest have no plans to change course. Burrell School District “is not interested in testing...
A digital divide haunts schools adapting to virus hurdles
When April Schneider’s children returned to in-person classrooms this year, she thought they were leaving behind the struggles from more than a year of remote learning. No more problems with borrowed tablets. No more days of missed lessons because her kids couldn’t connect to their virtual schooling. But coronavirus cases...
Parents, retirees teach class as omicron sidelines faculty across nation
Clark County, Nevada, was short nearly 2,000 teachers this week. The district had 400 substitutes to cover them. That simple math problem forced central-office staff into classrooms, students into auditoriums, and eventually led one of the largest districts in the U.S. to halt instruction. “It was putting a real strain...
Duquesne moves closer to accreditation for its medical school
Duquesne University’s proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine is not expected to open until 2024, but the school has achieved “candidate status” from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA), according to a university statement. Among other things, the change in status means Duquesne will begin additional funding for the college....
Families despair over post-holiday return to remote learning
DETROIT — Parent Latonya Peterson sums up her frustration over Detroit schools returning — at least temporarily — to virtual learning in three short words: “I hate it.” Facing a surge in covid-19 cases, the Detroit district this week joined a growing number of others in moving classes online after...
Teacher shortage stokes covid threat for W.Pa. schools fighting to stay in the classroom
More than 5,000 schools across the country, including in Pittsburgh, spent last week teaching children remotely or delaying their return to the classroom as covid infections continued to skyrocket with the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. While the vast majority of districts in Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere have...
