Education category, Page 45

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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....

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...

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...

Five more Pittsburgh Public Schools will move to remote learning through the end of the week, bringing the number of schools to 14 that will be closed for in-person learning because of staffing shortages. The district added Arsenal 6-8, Liberty PreK-5, Manchester PreK-8, South Hills 6-8 and Whittier PreK-5, saying...

Students in 12 Pittsburgh Public Schools buildings learned remotely Monday because of covid-related staffing shortages. An alert posted to the district’s website said students would have livestreamed lessons at the following schools:Allegheny PreK-5.Carrick High School.Crescent Early Childhood Center.Greenfield PreK-8.Liberty PreK-5.Lincoln PreK-5.Montessori PreK-5.Morrow PreK-8.Perry High School.Phillips PreK-5.Weil PreK-5.Whittier PreK-5. A covid-19...

Lizzie Ammons had fought too hard to let the prospect of college slip from her grasp when word began circulating that Slippery Rock University might shutter its Rock Life program — one of about 300 college programs across the nation for students with intellectual disabilities. Ammons, 21, of Greensburg was...

Despite covid-19 surging throughout the country, and with health experts warning of challenging weeks ahead, Penn State announced Thursday night that it will start the spring semester in person, as planned, because it feels it can do so “safely but carefully.” Still, according to the university, conditions around University Park...

The University of Pittsburgh’s Covid-19 Medical Response Office has released a plan for the spring semester that includes a phased move-in beginning Jan. 8 along with a shelter-in-place request and testing for students. Pitt will make available one covid-19 test through Quest Diagnostics for all of the approximately 34,000 students...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In the mornings, before she starts work at her software development job, St. Petersburg’s Amanda Leaders sits down with coffee and thinks about whom to send a postcard. The hobby began in September when she noticed a sale at Vistaprint. She ordered a set of postcards...

Franklin Regional elementary teachers will be up-sizing their annual Science Olympiad in 2022 with the help of a $2,500 grant from the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. “We were able to establish an elementary and middle school Science Olympiad program in partnership with the SSP,” said fourth grade teacher Megan Melucci....

Dan Gilman, who served as Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, announced Monday that he will be taking on a new role at Duquesne University when Peduto leaves office in January. Gilman will serve as a senior advisor to Duquesne University President Ken Gormley and will move into the chief...