Education category, Page 77
Derry Area Middle School club receives Children’s Hospital fundraising award
Derry Area Middle School’s Farkleberry Club recently received the Youth Fundraiser Award from the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation. The club’s annual campaign, during the fall 2019 semester, raised $5,649.73 for the hospital’s Free Care Fund. The fundraising effort has been a tradition at the school for more than four...
Stimulus grant adds $30 million to Pennsylvania college aid program
Pennsylvania college students will be eligible for an additional $400 in state grant aid this fall, officials with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) said Friday. State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, vice chairman of the PHEAA board, said an additional $30 millionfrom the federal CARES Act, part of the...
CNN, Sesame Street to team up for town hall Saturday discussing racism
CNN and “Sesame Street” are joining forces to present a family-oriented town hall program that aims to address racism in America. According to CNN, the 60-minute special “Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism. A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Families” will air Saturday at 10 a.m.. Big Bird...
Hempfield schools hoping to reopen in fall, officials discussing classroom changes
The Hempfield Area School District is hoping to reopen schools to in-person learning this fall, but classrooms would look far different because of the coronavirus pandemic. District officials discussed opening schools to small, in-person classes, activities and events that limits interactions with different teachers and students, based on guidelines from...
West Virginia University to require coronavirus tests before return
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University will require testing of all students, faculty and staff for the coronavirus before they can return to campus for the start of fall classes. The university said Wednesday that in setting Aug. 19 as the start of fall classes students must wear masks on...
Officials: Pennsylvania schools can reopen in-person teaching on July 1
Elementary and secondary schools inside Pennsylvania’s less restrictive reopening zones can resume teaching in person and other activities at the end of June, the Education Department announced Wednesday. The guidance issued by the department says school boards in the green and yellow zones under the stoplight-colored reopening system must first...
War hero McRaven tells MIT grads they’re the ‘real heroes’
William McRaven, the retired U.S. Navy admiral who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, told members of MIT’s graduating class Friday that they are the “real heroes” who will save the world from pandemics, war, climate change, poverty and racism. McRaven, who delivered his address online to the...
Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics to hold virtual open houseVideo
Aircraft maintenance has been an essential service throughout the coronavirus pandemic, with planes delivering critical supplies across the world. Officials from the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics will host a virtual open house Saturday to encourage potential students to consider it as a career. “May 30 will be an all-new experience...
Carnegie Museum partners with TikTok to bring education to social media platformVideo
It started with a snail joke. But making light of mollusks has quickly led to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s TikTok channel gaining nearly 150,000 followers since January, and the museum is partnering with the burgeoning social-media platform to bring users more educational content. The museum received a grant,...
Gateway’s 2020 grads mark their day in Monroeville Mall parking lotVideo
Gateway High School graduates made history Wednesday as they graduated from a mall parking lot during a “hybrid commencement ceremony,” as the school’s principal put it. Traditionally, the high school graduation ceremony marks finality – a last hurrah before parting ways. But this year their last day was effectively March...
Cal U student from Greensburg sues over online learning
A California University of Pennsylvania student from Greensburg has sued the university for failing to refund pro-rated tuition for the online instruction she and thousands of other students received for the last part of the spring semester because covid-19 restrictions forced colleges to close. Ashleigh Coffman claimed that the online...
The Kiski School announces residential, online options for 2020
A Westmoreland County boarding school says it will open its campus this fall with a hybrid program that will provide for simultaneous in-person and online learning. The Kiski School, a 132-year-old boarding school with 187 boys in grades 9-12 last year, was forced to shutter its campus and go to...
Duquesne to hold virtual law school commencement for 132 graduates
It may not be the type of ceremony April Barton envisioned for her first year as dean, but the Duquesne University School of Law will hold its first-ever virtual commencement ceremony on Friday. Covid-19 restrictions forced Duquesne to make its 106th law school commencement an online affair but all indications...
Poll: 1 in 5 teachers unlikely to return to school if classrooms reopen this fallVideo
One in five teachers in the United States say they are unlikely to return to in-person instruction if schools reopen in the fall, a USA Today–Ipsos poll revealed Tuesday. The survey found 25% of teachers 55 and older say they are unlikely to return for in-person classes, hinting at the...
Pitt-Greensburg’s SITREP program helps veterans transition to collegeVideo
You wouldn’t expect a veteran to be intimidated by the prospect of attending college, given the rigors of military life and the stress of active-duty service. But it happened to Jacob Snyder of Murrysville, and he sees it frequently when talking with incoming student-veterans at the University of Pittsburgh at...
Derry Area students pen notes of support for residents, staff at care centers
Seventh-graders at Derry Area Middle School missed out on a trip to Cleveland’s Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame because of covid-19 pandemic restrictions. But, as they completed an inter-disciplinary, music-related lesson unit at their homes, they found time between the musical notes to pen written notes to residents and...
IUP plans to have single dorms, in-person classes this fall
Indiana University of Pennsylvania announced a return to campus this fall, in a plan that includes face-to-face instruction and residential living. Come fall, all students living in residence halls will have a private bedroom. Some will have a private bathroom as well; shared bathrooms will be used by no more...
Greater Latrobe sets graduation options, plans survey to prep for fall instruction
Greater Latrobe School District is holding out hope for a belated commencement ceremony for the high school Class of 2020. But district officials note those plans, and options for instructing remaining students next fall, will depend on the status of the covid-19 pandemic. A survey is planned to solicit district...
New CMU study shows inequity in internet access among children
A study led by a Carnegie Mellon University professor used national data to measure how many children have internet access at home and what factors contribute to the long-existing digital divide. The findings, said lead researcher Ananya Sen, are especially potent as most K-12 school districts have moved to online...
Derry Area to bid seniors farewell with lunch, parade
Derry Area School District’s traditional breakfast for graduating high school seniors couldn’t be held this year because of social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, members of the Class of 2020 are invited to a drive-through farewell luncheon on Friday. It will be followed by a parade through the...
Remote learning at The Neighborhood Academy in Pittsburgh a seamless transition
Most days of the week, Page Hempfield tunes in for an advising appointment at 9 a.m. on Zoom. She and other students are able to check in, ask questions and get updates about homework and about their school, The Neighborhood Academy. Then, in her bedroom of her North Versailles home,...
Historically black colleges work to help students amid virus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ja’nayla Johnson worked hard in high school with the dream of being the first in her family to graduate from college, but she started to doubt herself as several colleges rejected her. Then Bennett, a small historically black women’s college in North Carolina, saw Johnson’s potential and...
Pittsburgh Public Schools uncertain about fall classes, continues tech purchases
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials on Thursday said they remain uncertain as to whether in-person learning will begin in the fall. “Based on our timeline right now, I would say there is an expectation, but we just don’t know,” said Superintendent Anthony Hamlet. “I’d say the greatest challenge right now is...
Hampton teacher 1 of 12 finalists for Pennsylvania’s Teacher of the Year award
A longtime educator with the Hampton Township School District is among the dozen finalists for the 2021 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year award, Gov. Tom Wolf announced today. Mathematics teacher Kathleen Dickensheets, who has been with the district for 33 years, is one of three teachers from western Pennsylvania selected...
Penn State Extension extends discounts for online courses due to high demand
When Penn State Extension officials made online courses free during April, public interest was overwhelming. “We would’ve filled Beaver Stadium with students,” said Extension Director Brent Hales. “We had over 109,000 people sign up.” There was so much demand — it initially crashed extension servers, Hales said — that officials...
