News

Senior High School (SHS) Assistant Principal Alicia Beighley shared that the Consortium’s HCD expertise directly supported their district’s focus on two Portrait of a Graduate competencies, helping teachers to create lessons that increased both student engagement and preparedness. In addition to trainings and check-ins with Consortium staff Beighley created a Professional (Personalized) Learning Community (PLC) […]

Over the past year, K-12 school teachers from across the region have gathered to find ways to build a sense of belonging in their schools through the Consortium’s Building a Positive School Climate (BPSC) cohort.  The Consortium has run a variety of cohort-based programs over the years, each with its own distinct outcomes and areas [...]

Our amazing Educator in the Workforce offerings enable teachers, counselors, and administrators to experience a variety of careers in a way that enables them to represent those careers, and the necessary skills, more fully to their students as they prepare for life after high school. Take a look at our info session on the options [...]

The Student Sustainability Design Challenge (SSDC) is about helping middle and high school students gain employment skills, agency, and career knowledge through team-based community projects focused on the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). But it’s more than that. The community partners that engage with students through SSDC reap benefits as well. Now in […]

In March, more than 150 middle and high school students from schools across Western Pennsylvania gathered to proudly pitch community-focused projects at the Consortium’s 2025 Student Sustainability Design Challenge showcase. The packed room at Rodef Shalom marked the culmination of several months of student research, career exploration, and project development focused on the 17 United [...]

Over 70 high school students who are members of the Consortium’s Future Ready Leaders (FRL) program wrapped up a year of hard work and growth during their final meeting of the 2024-25 school year in early April. The students, who come from several area high schools, gathered at the Bricklayers & Allied Craft Workers Apprenticeship [...]

On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education. We don’t yet know how that is going to impact schools in our region. While federal funds make up a small portion of school district budgets, we know that for many districts, even small reductions can do […]

With the end of the school year quickly approaching and you have students who still need to create artifacts to align with Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE’s) Career Education and Work Standards, we have free lesson plans for educators to use with students.  Originally created in conjunction with Catalyst Connection’s “What’s so great about manufacturing?” [...]

Career Fairs represent some of the longest standing opportunities for students to explore careers, whether organized by their schools on-campus, or by employers offsite. An April event at the Pittsburgh Marriott put somewhat of a new twist on the old standard. It brought together seniors just weeks from graduation, many of whom have no immediate […]

In November, Eatontown Public Schools (EPS), located in Eatontown, New Jersey, approached the Consortium with an exciting opportunity to help expand and develop project-based lessons across their Pre-K to 8th grade system. EPS had introduced their teachers to PBL by participating in a one-day session offered by PBLWorks, and reached out to CPE to help […]