Our Executive Director, Jackie Foor, was honored to serve both as a co-presenter for a workshop and as a participant for a panel discussion in late April at the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association’s (PWDA) Next Generation Youth Workforce Summit. In the breakout, which she co-presented with UPMC, Foor discussed the role intermediaries like the Consortium […]
CPE News
Spotlight on: Student Sustainability Design Challenge
Businesses, community organizations, and post-secondary institutions naturally see partnerships with K-12 schools as opportunities to introduce their job opportunities or academic programs to an upcoming generation. More than 20 businesses, universities, and community organizations supported them in their work. The community partners included 412 Food Rescue, Allegheny Land Trust, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham University – […]
Presentations cap Student Sustainability Design Challenge
Teams from 11 school districts and two Career & Technical Centers came together at the Energy Innovation Center (EIC) in March for presentations and poster displays of projects they designed to move their communities or schools toward greater sustainability. All participated over the past semester in the Student Sustainability Design Challenge (SSDC), a Project-Based Learning […]
First cohort winds up Act 45 course; registration opens for summer session
The inaugural session of our Act 45 course Using Human-Centered Design (HCD) to Support Student Growth & Achievement is getting excellent reviews as educators enter the home stretch of their work. Participants report both enjoying the course and also reaping benefits from learning among peers. New Kensington-Arnold School District Superintendent Chris Sefcheck, Ed.D., for example, […]
Annual Conference again gives attendees ideas and contacts
It was the third he’d attended, but Kris Hupp said he seems always to get something new out our annual Future Ready Partnerships Conference (FRPC). Among takeaways from this year’s, the Cornell School District Director of Technology & Instructional Innovation said he and two Cornell teachers who accompanied him got some ideas from the “hands […]
New Professional Development option helps teachers discover pathways for students
Teachers in K-12 schools have increasingly been expected to support students in career learning. But it can be a challenge for the many who have had little exposure to jobs or workplaces outside of education. That’s why Cornell School District decided to offer its teachers an Educator in the Workforce (EIW) experience from the Consortium’s […]
Future Ready Leaders get feedback on project plans
Teams participating in Future Ready Leaders (FRL) will come together again in March to share insights from their project implementations. The teams met in January to get feedback from peers on projects that ranged from designing a Google site that helps students align high school electives with college and career plans, to hosting guest speakers […]
Spotlight On: Career Fair with a Twist
Employers may think of career fairs strictly as events in which they’re invited to participate, whether by schools, trade associations or others who might organize them. As UPMC found last fall, however, an employer might have a better shot at recruiting if it instead serves as host. A career fair that the healthcare giant hosted […]
Human-Centered Design can help make school budget changes more strategic and more palatable
Some 40 administrators and others interested in school budgeting came together in January to get tips and tools to help focus the process on specific priorities and make it more transparent. During a January 9th webinar (recorded here), our Human-Centered Design (HCD) coaches helped attendees learn how HCD could help ensure that any changes they […]