News

A longstanding host for workplace site visits that the Consortium organizes for schools, Urban Design Associates (UDA) finds working with students both fun for staff and an opportunity to expand public understanding of urban planning. “It engages our staff to think outside the box a little bit and they just enjoy it,” said Lori Sipes, […]

Projects that our Future Ready Leaders (FRL) teams undertook this year ranged from career fairs and senior student debriefings to step-up days and workshops on career exploration and college planning. “All of the projects provided the kinds of experiences students need in order to think about their next steps after high school and find out […]

With an increased emphasis on career learning in K-5, the Consortium this year organized employer site visits for elementary students with community partners ranging from the Pittsburgh Opera and Urban Design Associates, to the Green Building Alliance, DMI Companies, and the Moonshot Museum/Astrobotic. Clairton Elementary School Music Teacher Kevin Danchik called the visit to the […]

A year of staff preparation should pay off for years to come in helping some of Butler Area School District’s youngest students get a head start on career learning. Teachers at Northwest Elementary School, one of Butler Area’s seven K-5 buildings, worked this year with the Consortium to introduce their students to the Wonders of […]

Educators may be conversant with some of the career learning opportunities employers offer students during the school year, but it’s probably not as well-known what companies are doing to provide career exposure during the summer. One such opportunity that’s caught the state’s eye comes from Sigma Resources’ subsidiary, Simcoach Games. Simcoach has partnered with the […]

Administrators and counselors in our Thriving Futures program this year designed a gamut of ways to improve students’ future readiness–from identifying employer partnerships and expanding career exploration opportunities, to revising 339 plans, strengthening programming around social and emotional learning (SEL), and raising the bar for meeting state Career Education & Work (CEW) benchmarks. The Consortium […]

Fresh from the Spring session of our Act 45 course, administrators have hit the ground running with techniques learned in Human-Centered Design to Support Student Growth & Achievement. The HCD strategies already have helped Ridgeway Area School District Superintendent Heather McMahon-Vargas make headway in discussions to condense Ridgeway’s school week to four days for students, […]

You’re missing out if you don’t subscribe to our YouTube channel! Last month, our expanding collection of playlists garnered some 3,000 views, and it’s no wonder—with hundreds of videos, there’s something for every educator! Our collection ranges from resources for understanding Human-Centered Design (HCD) to learning more about Elementary Future Readiness. Educators also often use […]

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 […]

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 – […]