Intermediate Unit 1

10/05/2026

That’s a wrap on the 2026 PA Civics Educator Forum held here at Intermediate Unit 1!

Today brought together in-classroom and out-of-school educators from across Pennsylvania around this year’s theme: “Cultivating Curious Minds, Critical Thinkers, and Engaged Citizens.”

From breakout sessions led by coalition partners to practical tools on media literacy, civil dialogue, and active citizenship, teachers leave today with ready-to-use civic education resources (and Act 48 credits!) to empower students in classrooms across PA tomorrow.

Huge thank you to PA Civics, Committee of Seventy, and all 27+ member organizations, and the dedicated educators who made today a success!

Swipe through to see highlights from the sessions! 🏛️📚✨

10/05/2026

10 years. Infinite impact.

Join us for Celebrating a Decade of Impact: The 10th Anniversary Innovation Grants Showcase! Discover revolutionary projects, network with visionaries, and celebrate a decade of progress.

📍 Pennsylvania Trolley Museum (Washington, PA)
🗓️ Tuesday, Oct 20 | 10 AM - 1 PM
🎟️ Reserve your spot:

Celebrate 10 years of empowering rural classrooms! Join us as we showcase a decade of student innovation and regional impact.

10/05/2026

🚀 Empower Innovation in Your Classroom! 💡

Registration is officially OPEN for our IU1 Innovation Grants! These grants are designed to support local educators and school teams in bringing creative, forward-thinking projects, programs, and curriculum ideas to life.

Whether you’re looking to introduce new classroom technology, launch a hands-on project, or pilot an innovative teaching approach, this grant opportunity is here to help fund your vision.

👉 How to apply: Head over to our IU1 Curriculum Coordinators Council page to learn more and submit your application:

Innovation Grants - RFP Now Open!

10/02/2026

Day 1 of The Leadership Compass: Navigating School Systems is in the books! 🧭 ✨

Today, our education leaders kicked off the series with Aligning for Excellence—diving deep into Act 13, the Danielson Framework, PEERS, and PVAAS to strengthen instructional leadership and prioritize time for impactful walkthroughs and feedback.

Excited to see these insights shape our schools! Looking forward to Day 2 in November! 💡👏

10/02/2026

Day 1 of the IU1 Love Math Challenge is in the books, and off to an incredible start with 7,485 math problems solved across the region! 🧮 💥 Huge shoutout to today's Top 5!

Keep up the great work—every problem solved builds math confidence! Log in and keep those scores climbing! 🚀

10/02/2026

Join our dedicated team as a Special Education Teacher!

We have two rewarding opportunities available for passionate educators ready to make a real difference in students' lives:

📍 Waynesburg Campus
📍 McMurray Campus

If you're driven by creating inclusive, supportive learning environments, we want to hear from you!

➡️ Apply today: https://www.applitrack.com/iu1/onlineapp/

10/01/2026

Can you prove your school loves math more than anyone else? Challenge accepted! 💡🔢

Throughout October, we’re taking part in the IU1 Love Math Challenge! Students, teachers, and family members can jump on the First in Math platform for free to score points for our school.

How to join the fun:

- Go to First in Math
- Log in using the username shared with your school. Password: lovemath
- Start playing and earning points!

Good luck in bringing home the win! 🏆✨

10/01/2026

Today, we hosted the kickoff for our new student-led podcast initiative, made possible thanks to generous funding from The Grable Foundation! Through this grant, IU1 supplied 7 local school districts with full sets of podcasting equipment to launch inclusive, student-led podcasts.

Teachers and students from Avella Area School District Page, Bentworth School District, Bethlehem-Center School District, Brownsville Area School District, Charleroi Area School District, Jefferson-Morgan School District, and Southeastern Greene School District joined us this morning to cover grant expectations, available resources, and hands-on equipment training. The energy was contagious—some students were so eager to start that they were already recording and testing gear before they left the building! Everyone headed back to their districts with arms full of equipment and big ideas.

We can’t wait to hear these student voices hit the airwaves. Stay tuned for updates as these podcast productions officially launch! 🎙️

10/01/2026

The busyness continues at IU1 as our week of learning and growing keeps rolling! 🧱💰

Yesterday, we hosted our Building Financial Futures Workshop, where educators came together for a full day of hands-on, interactive learning! Attendees dove into Pennsylvania’s new K-5 personal finance standards—covering key concepts like budgeting, saving, earning, and opportunity cost.

To top it off, participants got hands-on with Lego® BRICKS, discovering how to bring abstract economic concepts to life through play-based STEM activities, design thinking, and cross-curricular challenges like the Brick Store Challenge and Save-Spend-Share builds! Plus, every attendee walked away with actionable classroom resources and a free Lego® BRICK kit to bring these lessons straight to their students.

Missed yesterday's session? We have two more workshops coming up on October 7th and November 9th! Register today through the IU1 PD Hub to secure your spot and free kit!

Special thanks to our local financial partners— Fayette County School Employees Credit Union, Somerset Trust Company, Washington Financial, and Frick Financial Federal Credit Union — for sponsoring this workshop and set at no cost to participants!

10/01/2026

On Tuesday, we kicked off a packed week by hosting a pilot Empowerment School book study, featuring a very special guest speaker via Zoom: author Dr. Kathy J. D'Antoni! Dr. D'Antoni shared her insights on what an Empowerment School is, why it’s vital for today's learners, and how creating simulated workplace environments transforms the educational experience.

Following the book study, we transitioned into our first of six Career Ready Toolkit Advisory Committee meetings for the school year. We took the concepts from the Empowerment School discussion and mapped out how our committee can serve as a "one-stop shop" for K-12 educator resources, while offering valuable opportunities for members to network and build connections.

Both the book study and the toolkit are being piloted this year—aiming for school districts to implement the study and utilize the toolkit as a ready-to-use resource for empowering students across our region. Stay tuned as we build these opportunities together!

The Empowerment Collaborative