Cynthia Closkey

The school year is winding down, but like districts looking into next fall for Professional Development opportunities, we’re already booking them! Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, the Consortium again will be offering trainings in Project-Based Learning (PBL), a teaching method recommended for increasing student engagement, and Human-Centered Design (HCD), an approach to problem-solving that focuses [...]

One of the best kept secrets in higher education has been our country’s Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs). Consortium Program Associate Frank Kamara is an HBCU alum, and he is working to raise awareness of these institutions among students from the high schools participating in our EdLeaders Pittsburgh program. Since April, we’ve been facilitating [...]

A year after its launch, our Career Journeys video series is still gaining followers, inspiring a variety of classroom uses, and even drawing emulators as school districts across the region incorporate it into their career learning programs. Altogether, the 100+ interviews with professionals spanning 16 different career clusters have racked up more than 12,000 YouTube [...]

An Elsie Honors Scholar from the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics finished up an internship with the Consortium this month, saying the experience illuminated career options for her and is helping her consider one in particular. Interested in equity issues when she joined us, Kayla Henderson says she now also feels drawn toward working [...]

We’re ringing in a new school year with a new look, a new logo and a new focus. Along with our new website, the changes reflect an evolution the Consortium has undergone in just the past few years–developing several new programs and redesigning longstanding ones as well. In the past three years, we’ve introduced College & […]

September kicks off nominations for our annual Champions of Learning Awards. If you know strong advocates for public schools, superb classroom teachers or outstanding school or district leaders, please nominate them. But don’t stop there, because we’re also looking for businesses, organizations and others who contribute time, talents or support to create exceptional learning experiences […]