Station Initiatives

The Indiana Department of Education has awarded $6.7 million in grants to Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations, Inc. (IPBS) to expand educational datacasting services for students who lack broadband connections for at-home learning.

KET Social Studies Shorts is a new series of 15 new Social Studies/Civics videos that will be published monthly now through May on PBS LearningMedia. For grades 4-8 covering a wide range of national and international topics plus a handful that are Kentucky specific.
The first video is called Presidential Inauguration and it covers what traditionally happens on that day as well as a few moments from inaugurations of the past. The video is accompanied by support materials, including a glossary, a quiz, and discussion questions.

January 4 marked the official launch of the Michigan Learning Channel, created by Detroit Public Television and in cooperation with the state’s other public television stations. The Michigan Learning Channel provides supplemental programming to support learning for Pre-K to Grade 12 students, with a special emphasis on K-3 basics in literacy and math. The channel is also viewable at michiganlearning.org/live.

PBS North Carolina recently premiered Classroom Connection, the next phase of their At-Home Learning partnership with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NC DPI), to support Pre-K through third-grade students virtual learning experience. This short-form learning series features PBS KIDS favorites alongside engaging math and literacy lessons developed by and featuring North Carolina teachers and aligned with state curriculum standards.

Classroom Connection airs literacy lessons Tuesdays and Fridays, 8-10 AM on PBS NC and streamed online at pbsnc.org/athomelearning. 

On January 8, the Tennessee Department of Education announced that $1 million will be awarded to Tennessee's six PBS stations- WNPT Nashville, East Tennessee PBS, WCTE Upper Cumberland, WKNO Memphis, West TN PBS, and Chattanooga WTCI- for their partnership to engage families and support quality education for students across the state.  

In collaboration with Tennessee teachers and districts, the department created an at-home learning series with over 300 instructional classroom video lessons for 1st –8th grade students airing across all six Tennessee PBS stations since the spring. 

Wisconsin First Nations, created by PBS Wisconsin Education, WI Department of Public Instruction, and the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a collection of resources that provide educators and pre-service teachers accurate and authentic educational materials for teaching about the American Indian Nations of Wisconsin.