Updated 39 minutes ago
The weekend is in sight. But there’s still a lot of education news to cover today.
Let’s get to it: Here are five things you need to know.
1. ESSA PLAN: The Every Student Succeeds Act, commonly referred to as ESSA, replaced No Child Left Behind as the federal education law in 2015. The Pennsylvania Department of Education released the state’s plan for complying with ESSA yesterday. Learn more here.
TribLIVE Education Reporter Jamie Martines is working to pick the new plan apart and learn how it will impact students. Questions about ESSA? Get in touch with her: [email protected] or 724-850-2867.
2. CYBER CHARTER COMES TO MURRYSVILLE: The Downingtown-based 21st Century Cyber Charter School opened a new office in Murrysville on Wednesday. The school serves over 1,000 students statewide. The new office will house 15 staff members, including 6 new teachers, and provide in-person support for students and families. The office will also coordinate field trips and in-person meet-ups for students, who typically complete their lessons solo.
3. PR MOVE: The Gateway School District plans to hire a public relations company to produce and distribute a bimonthly or quarterly magazine and an annual report, reports Dillon Carr for TribLIVE.
Carnegie-based Krakoff Communications owner and founder Jeff Krakoff said the district needs a positive magazine due to the amount of negative media reports the district generates.
According to a proposal prepared by Krakoff, the cost to print and distribute 5,000 color magazines every quarter or every other month ranges from $6,700 to $10,800 per issue. The cost of the first will be roughly $7,900 to $12,000. The cost per issue will depend on how many pages the district wants and how often the magazine is printed.
The Woodland Hills School Board recently nixed a proposal to extend up to a year a contract with Pittsburgh-based public relations firm MASSolutions.
MASSolutions promised to deliver a “No BS Marketing Strategy” to the tune of $73,781 for ongoing services for 12 months, according to the firm’s proposal, which included items such as publishing a district newsletter, executing a social media strategy and making better use of search engine optimization related to district information and announcements.
4. HIGHER ED UPDATES: As officials at Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities prepare for the coming school year, they face some major changes in leadership. TribLIVE Reporter Deb Erdley details the presidential vacancies and executive searches.
California University of Pennsylvania is joining the Meteorological Society this fall to offer free online graduate level credit courses to K-12 teachers. K-12 teachers may take the DataStreme, Project Atmosphere and Project Murray courses individually, in any order. Those who complete at least nine credits earn a post-baccalaureate certificate from California University’s School of Graduate Studies and Research.
5. PWNED: In hacker slang, CMU students pwned the competition. Carnegie Mellon University’s hacking team won its fourth World Series of Hacking title this weekend at the DefCon cyber security conference in Las Vegas, , reports Aaron Aupperlee for TribLIVE.
Questions? Story ideas? Send them to [email protected].
Don’t forget to follow the TribLIVE Education Team on Twitter:
•Emily Balser @emilybalser (Valley News Dispatch newsroom)
•Debra Erdley @deberdley_Trib (Greensburg newsroom)
•Natasha Lindstrom @NewsNatasha (Pittsburgh newsroom)
•Jamie Martines @Jamie_Martines (Greensburg newsroom)
Jamie Martines is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-850-2867, [email protected] or on Twitter @Jamie_Martines.