Every experience our organization has had with the Consortium for Public Education has impressed me. They are deeply respected by professionals in the field, grantors, business leaders, educators, and students. Those relationships have been cultivated thoughtfully over time, and they are an incredibly trusted partner for our organization. The Consortium is focused on ensuring educators have the resources and opportunities they need to help their student be better prepared for future success. They are a leader in building coalitions that support youth while also building a strong foundation for the region's workforce. I cannot give them enough stars...
The Consortium for Public Education has tremendously, supported The Woodland Hills School District. Our students have greatly benefitted from the programs and connections CPE has provided. Woodland Hills is a Tile I school so being connected to businesses and other institutions gives our students opportunities they would otherwise never have. In addition, CPE has greatly supported Woodland Hills as we navigate the new Pennsylvania Career Education and Work standards. They have provided up with resources, training and opportunities to interact with other schools that have been extremely beneficial. Woodland Hills is extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful and knowledgeable individuals.
The Consortium has been a fantastic partner for the region to help connect K-12 education with employers to improve connectivity and ensure that southwestern PA has the workforce it needs to continue to thrive. Their dedication to collaborative efforts that include a variety of stakeholders has allowed us to continue moving forward in the region; helping employers get the workforce they need and helping students access training and jobs that lead to financial stability and upward mobility.
The Consortium for Public Education has been an invaluable partner for students, schools, businesses and the community, in general. They truly excel at bringing all the players to the table to assess needs and develop collaborative solutions that benefit all involved. I am always impressed with their ability to effectively bridge the worlds of business and education. They facilitate well-planned, thought-provoking activities that lead to valuable career exploration and development opportunities for students. As a business leader, I appreciate that they value my time, solicit my input, communicate very effectively and always follow-up with actionable outcomes and next steps. Their staff is dedicated, informative and innovative in helping us reach a wide range of students to offer them meaningful and accessible opportunities to learn and grow in both career and life. DMI Companies has partnered with the Consortium on several projects and we have always been thrilled with the results and excited to be able to contribute to their important mission.
The Consortium’s programs help our community by better preparing our region's youth for their future. If the students are future-ready our area will thrive. I've always enjoyed collaborating with CPE whenever possible.
The Consortium’s program, TFIM, help kids by giving students opportunities to explore careers and develop skills in meaningful and hands-on ways. Through my work with the Consortium in their Future is Mine program within the past fourteen years, I have seen first hand students dive into various careers that they would never have had the opportunity to experience or know about without the Consortium's help. TFIM opened the doors for these kids in areas of networking, peer to peer and peer to younger peer projects within our schools and community based projects that I wouldn't have thought possible prior to working with The Consortium for Public Education. Through these opportunities, students earned grants and were able to gather valuable insight into their futures. Additionally, they gained much needed skills for future successes that they carried with them once they graduated high school.
I still communicate with many of my former TFIM members and they attribute a lot of their life successes to the TFIM program and the Consortium's ability to bridge the gaps that the school needed so badly. One former TFIM student of mine is now a college professor and comes back to MC the conferences each year.
TFIM and other Consortium programs have life long impact on youth. The work that they are able to do within this program is invaluable.
For more than six years, I have been working with the Consortium as a collaborator to bring additional resources to schools and districts in southwestern Pennsylvania as they strive to help all students prepare for meaningful lives after high school. My company is a nationally known leader in applied research and development that supports educators and others to improve children's lives and families' health.
Staff at the Consortium are invested in their mission; intelligent about alternative ways to work with surrounding organizations; attentive to the needs of educators, families, students, and businesses; and resourceful about strategies to deliver hands-on effective services.
They enjoy widespread support from the business and civic communities in southwest Pennsylvania, and for good reason--because they truly deliver.
Most of the jobs in our region are with small businesses. Unfortunately, students don't often know about these opportunities and those of us who are business owners can't easily connect with them or their educators to share this information. The Consortium connects companies like mine with schools so that we can realize better outcomes for both business and youth.
The Consortium for Public Education has been a partner of our school district for many, many years. I have been with the district for 16+ years and have worked with the Consortium on countless projects and program. They have provided much needed guidance and support throughout the years for us as we struggle to receive resources and much needed programs for our students. They have helped us to secure funding for programs, provided crucial trainings and staff development, and provided us with the most up to date data driven information regarding ways to move our school district forward. In a state where all districts are not on a level playing field, non profit organizations like The Consortium for Public Education are greatly needed and appreciated.
I first became aware of the Consortium when Mascaro partnered with them to create an event that raised educators' awareness of the multiple career pathways in construction. This event allowed us to reach a large audience and make them aware of the great paying, high growth occupations in our industry. This improved and enhanced our efforts to reach middle and high school teachers and students about the skills needed to be successful in construction. The Consortium has continued to help us to reach this audience and deliver our message to students about the many opportunities in construction.
Community Colleges are always looking for ways to better connect with high school educators and students. Working with the Consortium has helped us to share information and raise awareness more effectively and efficiently. Through our partnership, we connect with schools across the region to ensure that more students become aware of the many post-secondary and career opportunities available to them.
While my career has provided me with the opportunity to work across several districts, my partnership with the Consortium has been a constant. Their work and dedication to school districts that serve financially challenged communities has been invaluable. They bring training, programs, partnerships, and resources to the students and staff that would not otherwise be available. Consortium staff have always been there to support our educators as we have worked to improve outcomes for our students.
The Consortium for Public Education excels at working with schools to expand their community in an effort to create opportunities for students to pursue excellence. Carlynton Junior-Senior High School is grateful for our partnership with this organization as their passion for moving forward is contagious. Our children, faculty and entire school community has become stronger.
Michael Loughren
Principal, Carlynton Junior-Senior High School
For years, the Consortium has been a valuable partner to our school district. Through their programs, they have connected our staff with a network of educators from across the region to share best practices and to learn from each other. The professional development they offer and connections to educational leaders have introduced us to new ideas and opportunities that have helped improve the educational experience for our students.
As a veteran teacher, I personally value the Consortium for enlarging my view, and making me a more thoughtful and committed professional. At a time when crushing economic conditions and paralyzing political partisanship are overwhelming many teachers, I credit my decade-long association with CPE for keeping me grounded, hopeful, student-focused, and broad-minded.
It is difficult to overestimate the impact that The Consortium for Public Education has had on the children of the region’s school systems. With eyes keenly focused on the goal of a quality education for each child in every community, Linda Croushore and her small, impassioned staff have been achieving distinguished results for 25 years. Their Leadership Design team concept recognized the need to bring all groups to the table to contribute to school improvement. The Future is Mine has presented thousands of high school students with empowering opportunities to network with employers, innovators, and each other. I have seen, time and time again, the impact this particular initiative has had on some of our students who entered the program without a plan. More than a few times, when I’ve inquired about a young person who has seemingly gotten “on track” in time for graduation, a teacher, principal, or counselor will note, significantly, that we’re talking about “one of the TFIM kids”.
Consistently ahead of the curve, CPE now turns its attention to the development of a personalized model of education for our 21st century students, a groundbreaking with far-reaching implications. A contribution to the Consortium is, literally, an investment in our nation’s future. Learn more at www.tcfpe.org