I hope you had a relaxing winter break and you're feeling refreshed and ready for the second half of the school year. If you're like me, you kicked off day one of the new year with a resolution - some people aim to read more, or get more sleep, or maybe improve their overall wellness. The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has joined this tradition by using the beginning of a new year as an opportunity to try something new.
Over the past several years, many people have had the chance to engage with members of the PDE team during Schools That Teach visits, at conferences like the SAS Institute or the Data Summit, and on social media. We've built a strong education community together, and to build on that foundation, we launched this blog – School of Thought.
Our blog will provide a platform for us to dig deeper on some of PDE's initiatives, announcements, and programs – and it will give you a closer look at the programs and topics that shape our state's education communities, including how PAsmart impacts STEM education, the ways communities are working together to create career pathways for students, and what Pennsylvania is doing to recruit the next generation of teachers.
This blog will also provide a space for members of school communities across Pennsylvania to share insight, information, and success stories via a special segment called "Voices From The Field".
School of Thought can be found on PDE's website. You can subscribe to receive blog post notifications, or keep an eye on our social media pages, where we'll announce the latest posts.
As we move forward with this digital community, we want to make sure it includes information that's of interest to you…or is written by you – therefore we need your input and ideas! What do you want to learn more about? Who should we feature (self-nominations gladly accepted)? Send us your ideas via our School of Thought feedback form.
Thanks for meeting me at the School of Thought. I look forward to seeing and sharing information with you here in 2020 and beyond.
Pedro Rivera
Learn more about Pedro Rivera, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Education.