News

When Alexis Schutzman agreed to participate in the Consortium’s Partners in Learning (PIL) program as a way to fulfill her placement requirements for her degree in Early Childhood Education PreK-4 at Carlow University, she had no idea it would change her career trajectory so completely.  The PIL program connects college students with a high-needs school […]

The Student Sustainability Design Challenge (SSDC) is back again this year, with not one, but two regional programs in Western Pennsylvania.   The SSDC is a 5-month-long program for both middle and high school students, exposing them to careers in sustainability as they use project-based learning to develop solutions to local challenges in their communities. The […]

Starting in September, the Consortium is offering both of its design thinking Act 45 courses for school leaders. Each course focuses on the use of human-centered design to find and develop ways to strengthen student growth and achievement.  The two courses are also similar in that they encourage participants – as individuals or in district […]

As schools everywhere open for the fall and businesses find their employees back from vacations, now is the time to think about potential partnerships for the 2025-2026 school year. Offerings range from the highly curated to the very flexible and everything in between.  Take a look and see how you might find a partnership that […]

In February, members of East Allegheny School District’s administrative team met at the Consortium to launch their comprehensive planning. Superintendent Joe DiLucente, having invested in his team to learn human-centered design (HCD) through our courses, knew that he wanted to leverage those new tools in the way that they approached their planning process. To kick [...]

This summer the Consortium launched a new course for school administrators, Leadership through Design: Enhancing Student Growth and Achievement (LTD). Like our other Act 45 offerings for school leaders, this course focuses on using human-centered design (HCD) as a means for administrators to address the myriad of challenges they face in a collaborative way that [...]

Educator in the Workforce (EIW) immerses educators—teachers, counselors, and school leaders—into local workplaces to gain first-hand knowledge about the region’s key industries, employers, and career pathways.  Through site visits and interactions with business leaders, educators learn: What jobs are in demand in our region The skills employers are seeking How classroom content connects to real-world [...]

As an education intermediary, the Consortium has long connected schools with employers to create career exploration opportunities for students. Starting this summer, we’ll bring together educators, civic leaders, employers, community organizations, and post-secondary programs to continue this work.  Together, we aim to create more opportunities for schools and employers to connect, enabling all students to […]

What started as a half-day workshop on HCD evolved over the course of thirteen months, with staff from the Consortium for Public Education working with over 100 teachers at Butler Senior High School (SHS) and Butler Intermediate High School (IHS) on incorporating human-centered design (HCD) in their classrooms. The Consortium team not only taught educators [...]

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) […]