Education category, Page 54

Leaders of five higher education institutions in the region announced a new partnership Thursday, with the goal of improving college accessibility and affordability. Officials from Robert Morris University, Community College of Allegheny County, Community College of Beaver County, Butler County Community College and Westmoreland County Community College signed an agreement...

After nearly a year of adjusting class schedules and learning models because of the covid-19 pandemic, school districts are grappling with how to quantify and assess learning loss. “It’s not entirely accurate to say that online learning is a complete failure,” said Kiski Area High School Principal Chad Roland. “It’s...

The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and Saint Vincent College will tap a pair of state grants to expand campus facilities. The schools were among scores of businesses, colleges and government agencies that were approved for Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program (R-CAP) grants during the final round of grant awards for...

Two Greensburg Salem School District buildings will be closed through Feb. 18 because of “the number of faculty, staff and students who were in close contact with a positive covid case,” according to district officials. Students at Amos K. Hutchinson Elementary School and Greensburg Salem Middle School will learn remotely...

WASHINGTON — Jill Biden is promising free access to community college and training programs, saying the schools will be an important part of Biden administration efforts to rebuild the economy. A longtime community college professor and advocate, the first lady said people struggling to get by during the coronavirus-induced economic...

Parents of schoolchildren learning from home shouldn’t necessarily count on reclaiming the dining room table any time soon. After seeing two academic years thrown off course by the pandemic, school leaders around the country are planning for the possibility of more distance learning next fall at the start of yet...

Two Hempfield Area elementary schools are closed Monday because of positive covid-19 cases, district officials said. Fort Allen and West Hempfield elementary schools shuttered after cases were reported among staff and students, according to Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. District leaders announced Fort Allen’s closure Friday after an additional student tested positive...

Fighting an uphill battle to cut costs and end declining enrollment, Indiana University of Pennsylvania raked in record levels of financial support and set a new record among state-owned schools in a recently completed fundraising campaign. The 30-month comprehensive fundraising campaign, dubbed Imagine Unlimited, recently ended six months early with...

Gov. Tom Wolf doubled down on his proposal for major funding increases for public education, joining others on Thursday to lay out additional details for improving equity across Pennsylvania. “Pennsylvania’s school funding system is unfair to students, teachers and communities,” Wolf said during a virtual press briefing. Wolf on Wednesday...

Norwin School District is planning a two-day training session in March aimed at qualifying people to become emergency-certified substitutes who can work immediately in the school district. The substitute teacher academy for those who do not hold a teaching certification is planned for 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 10...

Jennifer Padden Elliott, a pioneer in health equity and director of Duquesne University’s Center for Integrative Health, has been named the inaugural Ed and Karen Fritzky Family Chair in Integrative Medicine and Wellbeing. Created by a gift from the Fritzkys, the role is designed for a medical practitioner and member...

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Wednesday dropped its discrimination lawsuit against Yale University that had alleged the university was illegally discriminating against Asian American and white applicants. The Justice Department noted in its filing that it was voluntarily dismissing the action, filed in October under the Trump administration. A...

Pittsburgh Public School Board members voted on Tuesday to table discussions on closing or reconfiguring several district buildings. Officials had proposed major changes to the district’s footprint Monday evening. District officials said the changes, which consisted of closing seven schools and six buildings, as well as opening two new schools...

President Joe Biden’s nominee for education secretary is promising to help reopen schools but says much of the hardest work will come after that as schools try to address long-standing disparities worsened by the pandemic. “These inequities will endure, and prevent the potential of this great country, unless tackled head-on,”...

Special needs students who attend school programs outside of the South Allegheny School District will have busing to transport them to their respective facilities for the time being, but not the rest of the district’s 1,700 students. The school district and Sun Coach Lines reached a partial resolution during a...

Norwin plans to give its 1,850 elementary school students the option of returning to school four days a week beginning Feb. 15, which doubles the number of in-class instruction days under the hybrid instruction model Norwin has used since school began. Superintendent Jeff Taylor said students in the four elementary...

Late Friday morning, attorneys for South Allegheny School District sent a letter to the attorney representing their bus transportation company, praising progress they had made 10 days earlier in a dispute over $800,000 in back fees. Four hours later, the company, Sun Coach Lines, responded by saying they were terminating...

English teachers are deciding which books to skip. History teachers are condensing units. Science teachers are often doing without experiments entirely. With instruction time reduced as much as half by the coronavirus pandemic, many of the nation’s middle school and high school teachers have given up on covering all the...

Pittsburgh Public Schools has delayed the return to in-school instruction another two months, until April 6. The district targeted the return to classroom instruction at the end of February. One after the other, several board members spoke at their meeting Wednesday in support of continuing to teach classes online, though...

Eight local school districts are among those awarded more than $875,000 in grant money to help upgrade food service equipment in their cafeterias. In all, 59 elementary, middle and high schools will benefit from the funds, awarded to schools participating in the National School Lunch Program, a federally assisted meal...

Staff at Hempfield Area School District could be next in line to receive the covid-19 vaccine. According to a letter by Superintendent Tammy Wolicki, district leaders are working with Hayden’s Pharmacy in Youngwood to provide an opportunity for staff to receive the vaccine early next month. “We are supporting this...

A faculty-elected oversight body recommends that Duquesne University President Ken Gormley rehire Gary Shank, the education professor fired for using a racial slur during a virtual lecture on race and language in September. “While Dr. Shank’s use of the N-word was misguided, it was not malicious,” concludes a report by...

Students in the Mt. Pleasant Area School District are heading back to the classroom this week after more than a month of remote learning. District Superintendent Timothy Gabauer detailed in a letter to parents a plan that the school board approved for students to resume in-person classes Monday varying by...

The Pittsburgh Public Schools Board is scheduled to vote this week on a measure to delay the return to partial in-person instruction until at least April 6 because of the high number of people in Allegheny County testing positive for the coronavirus, district officials announced. Delaying the planned return to...