Education

Education Information

  • Chronicle of Higher Education: Weekly news and job-information source for college and university faculty members, administrators, and students. Articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education are only available to subscribers
  • Department of Education: This site includes FAFSA, Funding your Education and Student PIN requests.
  • National Center for Education Statistics: NCES collects, analyzes and makes available data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. Includes annual reports on: The Condition of Education, The Digest of Education Statistics, Indicators of School Crime and Safety and Projections of Education Statistics.
  • Pennsylvania Department of Education - Includes information on the department, teaching in the state, education reform initiatives, libraries, teacher certification, school profiles, home pages for schools and colleges and how to obtain a GED.
  • PA Department of Education’s List of Schools: Lists and provides data on the various schools in the Commonwealth, including public, private and charter schools; colleges, universities and more. Also lists homeschooling resources.
  • Penn State Extension: Choose from thousands of in-person workshops, online courses, publications, and onsite consultations on various agricultural topics.

Colleges & Training 

  • College Board Online: Guides you through practicing for, scheduling, and taking the SAT I and II, PSAT/NMSQT, CLEP, and AP tests. Includes planning for college, including choosing, getting accepted, and obtaining financial aid. Also has data and research on college pricing, student aid, standard tests, living expenses, and other issues.
  • College Navigator: College Opportunities online Search for U.S. colleges by name, location, type of institution, and programs/majors. Provides information about expenses, financial aid, enrollment, admission, athletics, and more.
  • Coursera: An educational technology company partnering with the world's top universities to offer free online college courses for anyone to take.
  • Future Ready PA Index: The Future Ready PA Index is a collection of school progress measures related to school and student success. The Index includes a range of assessment, on-track, and readiness indicators, to more accurately report student learning, growth, and success in the classroom and beyond.
  • GCF LearnFree: A program of Goodwill Industries that creates and provides free self-paced modules on technology, literacy and math skills, and more.
  • Khan Academy: Offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps.
  • A Guide to Pennsylvania's Post Secondary Career Schools: A guide to career education in Pennsylvania. "Career schools are post secondary, occupationally oriented, education institutions.” Searchable by school name, county or career.
  • Mapping Your Future: A site "for students and parents with information on financial strategies, career options, and college planning." Also available in Spanish.
  • MIT Open Courseware: Web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content, open and available worldwide.
  • Open Education Database Free Online Classes: Free open courses and interactive resources from top universities around the world.

  • Peterson's Guide to Schools: Information about colleges and universities, career schools, graduate programs, distance learning, executive training, private secondary schools, summer opportunities, study abroad, financial aid, test preparation, and career exploration

Driver's Education - Practice Tests & Handbooks

  • dmv-permit-test.com - This site provides a free driver education program for individuals preparing to take permit exams at the Department of Motor Vehicles. It contains practice tests and handbooks for automobile and motorcycle driving, including the following state-specific information:
    • 10 car practice tests
    • 5 motorcycle practice tests
    • 3 CDL (Commercial Driver’s License) practice tests
    • 3 online driver’s manuals (car, motorcycle, CDL)
    • An FAQ section with detailed answers to 100+ DMV-related questions
  • PennDOT's Test Your Knowledge - Includes links to the PA Driver's Manuals, permit forms, sample tests, and practice test apps for iOS and Android mobile devices.

Financial Aid, Student Loans & Scholarships

  • Collegescholarships.org: Students can browse through funding options for certain health conditions, sports, majors, minorities, religions, and military service among other categories.
  • Federal Student Aid: Federal Student Aid, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation. Determine eligibility, find the federal school codes, fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) online and electronically submit it, and check on the status of a submitted application. Includes deadlines for applying and instructions for making corrections to an application.
  • FastWeb: Financial aid search through the Web - Search a database of hundreds of thousands of U.S. scholarships, fellowships, internships, grants, and loans. Free registration allows you to set up a profile and mailbox that will automatically send you the latest scholarship information to fit your profile. Federal Student Aid: Part of the U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid provides federal grants, loans, and work-study funds to help millions of students pay for college or career school.
  • FinAid: Smart student guide to financial aid -Advice on and links to sources of information about student financial aid. Covers topics such as loans, scholarships, military aid, federal and state aid, fellowships, grants, prepaid tuition plans, study abroad, financial aid consultants, and scholarship search services.
  • Financial Aid Toolkit: Provides federal student aid information and outreach tools for counselors, college access professionals, nonprofit mentors and others.
  • PHEAA: Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, a full-service financial aid organization developing innovative ways to ease the financial burdens of students and borrowers
  • Scholarship America: manages thousands of scholarship programs. Many are only open to employees of the sponsoring company or their families, but some are available to students in the general public.
  • UNCF: manages various scholarship programs, each with its own eligibility criteria, and required documentation.
  • US News & World Report College Scholarships: Tips, news and advice to helps students find and apply to great scholarships

Homeschooling

  • Pennsylvania Homeschoolers Accreditation Agency: Offers legal information, calendar of upcoming events and listing of support group, markets homeschooling resources, publishes quarterly magazine, message board For Educators
  • Educator's Reference Desk: Provides high-quality resources and services to the education community, includes 2,000+ lesson plans, 3,000+ links to online education information, and 200+ question archive responses across a wide variety of educational topics.
  • Khan Academy: Offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. Our math missions guide learners from kindergarten to calculus using state-of-the-art, adaptive technology that identifies strengths and learning gaps.
  • Pennsylvania PTA: Provide a central informational source for parents, educators and school officials on an array of issues facing Pennsylvania schools
  • Share My Lesson: A free online resource developed by teachers for teachers, with hundreds of thousands of lesson plans developed for K-12 students.
  • Teacher Reference Center: Available under Pennsylvania Power Library’s education resources. Indexing and abstracts of over 280 peer-reviewed journals, covering key education topics such as Assessment, Best Practices, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards, Science & Mathematics and more.

Lifelong Learning

  • Immaculata University's Lifelong Learning Institute: Individuals over 50 in the southeast Pennsylvania region can choose from an extensive array of courses in the arts, history, and personal enrichment. The courses are peer taught, and there are no entrance requirements, grades or tests. Classes are currently offered during the day on Immaculata’s campus during the fall, spring, and summer semester.
  • Widener University's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute: Offers over 75 interesting and unique lifelong learning courses each semester at their campus in Exton for people over the age of 50 who want to take classes simply for the joy of learning something new. The Institute offers courses in such areas as U.S. History, Literature, Art History, World Religions, Wine Appreciation, Performing Arts, Current Events, Languages, Genealogy, Health and Medicine, World History, Science, Computer, and many others. Educational Trips and social activities are offered as well.

Volunteering