Journey to Learn draws 2,600 educators

Jennifer Sylves often uses Wikis for class projects because she finds that the web-based collaboration pages not only help students with organization, but also create both a sense of "individual accountability" and "interdependence."

Because they find them such a valuable teaching tool, Sylves, a Trinity High School English teacher, and a colleague, Nancy Hoffman, who teaches computer science, presented a workshop about Wikis to peers from across the region as part of The Consortium for Public Education's 2009 Journey to Learn. For a complete story and more photos from the region-wide, multi-district, in-service experience, click: Journey to Learn.

D.E.A.R commitments surpass 10-year record

Participation this year in The Consortium for Public Education's annual campaign encouraging students to Drop Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.) has surpassed a 10-year record, with elementary teachers in 31 schools committing their classrooms to the program. Together, the commitments mean some 11,696 children will spend 26.9 million minutes - an average of 38 hours each - of sustained, silent reading during the course of the school year. For a complete story, click: D.E.A.R.

Student leaders participate in training to build awareness about dating violence

More than 80 students from five high schools participated in a day of training in November so that they can serve as leaders in the Expect Respect program. The Consortium for Public Education offers Expect Respect to western Pennsylvania high schools in partnership with Womansplace, a domestic violence referral agency, to help teenagers recognize symptoms of abuse and build healthy relationships. For a complete story about the training workshop, click: Expect Respect.

Comcast is the latest community partner to lend its support this year to The Consortium for Public Education's 10-year campaign to collect and distribute a million children's books to needy families through Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank's 318 neighborhood food pantries. To learn more about the campaign's progress as it enters its ninth year, click: The Fifth Food Group: Food for the Mind.