MERCER COUNTY School districts join performance network

Nearly 30 school districts have joined the partnership.
SHARON, Pa. -- Five Mercer County public school districts have formed a local arm of the School Performance Network to improve their educational offerings.
Dr. Mary Catherine Conroy Hayden, director of the SPN, said that Sharon, Sharpsville, West Middlesex, Jamestown and Commodore Perry schools have formed the Mercer County Cluster of the network.
That cluster will address the special needs of the county's schools, she said.
Members of the cluster will meet regularly to share resources and successful strategies, and their membership in the network will give them access to the latest research in education and enable them to collaborate with the entire network of school partners across western Pennsylvania, she said.
Founded last year: SPN, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, was founded last year. The Heinz Endowment of Pittsburgh, which has been providing grants for programming assistance for schools across western Pennsylvania, sought some way to begin linking schools.
There are now 28 partners in 14 counties and the Catholic Dioceses of Pittsburgh, Altoona and Johnstown, Hayden said.
SPN continues to draw funding from the Heinz Endowment, but also gets support from a number of other regional foundations and is looking at state and federal funding support, Hayden said.