Save the date! The Consortium’s annual Leadership retreat takes place June 18-19 at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in the Laurel Highlands. Check back soon for more details.
Students explore community concerns through Hear Me 101 documentary projects
Two students engaged in a Hear Me 101 project at McKeesport Area High School set up their camera to film an interview
Teams of students from four high schools — Clairton City, McKeesport Area, Steel Valley and Woodland Hills — have been making documentaries as part of Hear Me 101, an initiative The Consortium is supporting in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab, the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. The projects are aimed at empowering students to address concerns about their communities and schools. To learn more about their progress, click here.
Spring round of Great Idea Grants marks milestone
In its 50th round of awards, The Consortium’s Great Idea Grants program selected a dozen classroom projects for funding that helped push total awards past the $1.5 million mark since the first grant was made 25 years ago. To learn more about the latest awards, click here.
Consortium’s Executive Director honored at luncheon
Dr. Croushore addresses Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania
The Consortium’s Executive Director was among eight local leaders the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania honored in March as “Women of Distinction.” To learn more about the awards, click here.
Team leaders and advisors debrief
on TFIM projects; begin Conference planning
TFIM student leaders and advisors listening to one of the project reports all teams made at mid-year
Team leaders and advisors in The Consortium’s career exploration program, The Future Is Mine (TFIM), in December held their mid-year debriefing on projects and began planning their annual Student Leadership Conference. To learn more about what they’re doing, click here.
South Allegheny's TFIM team visits Guardian Industries
Guardian Industries employees pose for a photo with visitors from South Allegheny High School
Guardian Industries, which will serve as one of more than a dozen employer host sites during The Consortium’s annual Student Leadership Conference for The Future Is Mine (TFIM), gave South Allegheny High School’s TFIM team a sneak preview. Students toured Guardian’s Floreffe plant January 18th, learning about the company’s history, how automotive window glass is made and what kinds of job opportunities the industry offers.
Consortium assists Youth
Media Advocacy Project
Associate Executive Director Steve Seliy (far right) and Student Engagement Director Jeff Baron (center rear) prepare mics and cameras for a taping session with Wilkinsburg High School students working on a documentary to celebrate their community’s 125th anniversary
The Consortium is collaborating with the Youth Media Advocacy Project (YMAP) to help students at Wilkinsburg High School celebrate their community’s 125th anniversary with a video featuring citizens and leaders whose work is having an impact. To learn more about the collaboration, click here.
Student teams begin yearlong documentary projects as part of
Hear Me 101
Students at Clairton City High School discuss possible topics for a documentary they’ll produce as part of Hear Me 101
The Consortium, Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab, Pittsburgh Filmmakers and The Western Pennsylvania Writing Project are hosting a seminar Dec. 3 where teams of students from four high schools will learn skills needed for the documentary filmmaking projects they’re undertaking as part of Hear Me 101. To learn more about this intensive application of the Hear Me initiative, click here.
13th annual Journey to Learn brings professional development to 1,500 educators
A full day of programming for teachers in visual and performing arts was just among the highlights of this year’s Journey to Learn
More than 1,500 educators joined in The Consortium for Public Education’s annual Journey to Learn this year. The region-wide in-service day gives professionals a chance to get outside of their own schools to learn best practices employed by peers in other districts. To read some highlights from the day, click here.
Click here for the Journey to Learn 2011 participant evaluation.
Click here for the Journey to Learn 2011 facilitator evaluation.
Forum teams explore student advisories
As part of an ongoing focus on personalizing education, teams participating in The Consortium for Public Education’s Forum for Collaborative Leadership discussed how regular advisory relationships with a teacher can help students take ownership of their educational journeys. To learn more, click here.
Documentary project empowers students; builds civic engagement
Several teams take a break following a presentation in the Bedford Hope Center’s Audio Video studio
A Student Documentary Project that The Consortium for Public Education began piloting in April is showing how inquiry-based learning can help engage youth with civic issues. To learn more about it, click here.
The Consortium takes Hear Me to districts across the region
Two TFIM team members from Brownsville Area High School display examples of picture stories during the Hear Me! project they led at Cox-Donahey Elementary School
The Hear Me project, launched last year by Carnegie Mellon University's CREATE Lab to capture the ideas and stories of youth across the region, has proven a perfect fit with many of The Consortium for Public Education's programs as well as a means of advancing an important goal: helping ensure that student voices are part of the conversation shaping education, whether to address academic performance or social and emotional learning.
As a lead partner to CMU, we've been working to help districts participating in our programs find creative ways not only to weave Hear Me into classroom lessons, but also to learn what they can from students to improve their schools. For a rundown of ways that schools recently have used this compelling opportunity, both to teach and learn, click here.
