Education category, Page 69

Ensuring that high school seniors graduate on time is among his top priorities as Pennsylvania grapples with the prospect of an extended school shutdown because of covid-19 fears, Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said Wednesday, stressing that the school year cannot be extended beyond June 30. “We’ve put a full...

RICHMOND, Va. — Officials in Lynchburg, Va., said Tuesday they were fielding complaints about the hundreds of students who have returned from their spring break to Liberty University, where President Jerry Falwell Jr. has welcomed them back amid the coronavirus pandemic. “We could not be more disappointed in the action...

The University of Pittsburgh is allowing students to convert their courses to pass/fail grading when classes resume online next week. In a letter to faculty members, Provost Ann Cudd said all undergraduate and graduate students can convert any of their courses to pass/fail grading after the semester ends. Passing grades...

All Pennsylvania System of State Assessment (PSSA), Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) and Keystone exams have been canceled for the 2019-2020 school year amid the covid-19 pandemic, the state Department of Education announced Friday. “Our school communities are operating within unprecedented conditions,” said Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera. “Schools...

Some school districts have stopped assigning mandatory work during the state’s mandatory 10-day closure after a conference call with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit and district leaders. After Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement last week that schools should close to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, Woodland Hills Superintendent James Harris...

Point Park University postponed graduate hooding and commencement ceremonies scheduled for April 25. School President Paul Hennigan announced the decision Thursday morning. “I understand this news will disappoint many people, and I wish circumstances were different, but we must make the responsible decision to postpone the ceremonies,” Hennigan said in...

School districts across Westmoreland County scrambled this week to find ways to feed students after classes were canceled for at least two weeks in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Volunteers and district employees handed out more than 800 bags of food for breakfast and lunch between...

Organizations in Highlands School District communities are working together to offer lunches for students in more locations. The school district previously announced it would be providing to-go lunches from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, beginning Wednesday, at the high school in Harrison, elementary school in Tarentum and in Sheldon...

It had taken all day, but finally, the New Kensington-Arnold School District had a plan. Schools would be closed to students Monday, just Monday, so teachers and administrators could prepare for a potential transition to online learning — a growing possibility as the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the...

Wilkinsburg School District announced Thursday it is closing Kelly Primary School and Turner Intermediate School on Friday and Monday due to a potential exposure to covid-19. Wilkinsburg Superintendent Linda J. Iverson said the district became aware that a staff member was in contact with a staff member at Colfax K-8...

Classes for about 2,500 Belle Vernon Area students continued as scheduled Friday after the teachers’ union and school board reached what they hope is a deal on a new contract, a union representative said. Details of the tentative agreement were not available. The contract still must be approved by the...

Penn State, along with several other Pennsylvania universities, will cancel in-person classes and move to online instruction over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus that causes covid-19. Officials announced Wednesday that Penn State will start remote learning for all classes at every campus location beginning March 16 through April...

The goal of most high schools is to have students graduate with skills that prepare them for success in life. One indication the school is making good on that intention is its building-level performance score — which is used to evaluate teachers and principals under Pennsylvania’s Educator Effectiveness System (Act...

Teachers at Sheridan Terrace Elementary in the Norwin School District provided customized reading instruction for students and reached out to their families to reinforce educational goals. Those strategies paid off, as Sheridan led all elementary schools in Westmoreland County in 2019, based on state-calculated building-level scores. Sheridan achieved 93 out...

Trafford Middle School used a flexible grouping approach to teach students last year, helping it to the top overall state performance score — 85.3 — among middle and junior high schools in Westmoreland County. Penn Middle School, also in Penn-Trafford School District, came in second with a score of 81.1...

SEATTLE — The University of Washington announced Friday it was moving all instruction online for the next two weeks, keeping more than 50,000 students out of classrooms as the death toll from COVID-19 continued to rise. At least 16 public elementary and secondary schools in the state have also closed,...

Highlands School District will enhance and improve its security and safety measures using a nearly half-million-dollar state grant, a district spokeswoman said. The district received about $484,000 from the School Safety and Security Committee within the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Highlands was one of 524 school entities that...

Stay at home. That’s the advice California University of Pennsylvania is giving students who become ill during spring break next week . “If you experience flu-like symptoms during or after spring break, please do NOT return to Cal U until you have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use...

A teacher at Jefferson Hills Intermediate School plans to purchase a chicken coop that will help enhance science lessons and become a business venture for students. At Thomas Jefferson High School, a teacher plans to open a greenhouse on the balcony outside her classroom that will assist her biology students...

A Connellsville man who volunteered with Norwin Middle School’s musical at one time had proper clearances, but later pleaded guilty to crimes that would prevent him from lawfully working with children, according to Norwin School District officials. Solicitor Russell Lucas confirmed the volunteer was Brad Geyer, 37, who pleaded guilty...

While Allegheny County Health Department indicates that the presence of coronavirus locally remains low, a brief discussion on the disease was held at the recent Hampton Township School District school board meeting. Dr. Michael Loughead, superintendent for Hampton school district, addressed any possible concerns there may be regarding the coronavirus...

The North Allegheny School Board has approved changes in the middle school schedule next year designed to boost mathematics and improve the learning environment, according to school officials. Facing a three-week deadline before students must begin scheduling classes, the board voted 6-3 to move forward with the schedule changes even...

Wednesday is National Grammar Day, a time to celebrate good writing, strong syntax and proper punctuation. Grammar nerds likely cringed at that last sentence. It all depends on your feelings about the Oxford comma — which comes before the last item in a list, such as after “trains” in the...