On September 16, 2020, Carole L. Clancy, Director  of the PDE Bureau of Special Education (BSE) sent a PennLink memo to all LEAs titled 2020-21 Gifted Compliance Monitoring Schedule. The contents of that memo are below.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has the responsibility to ensure that all school districts providing gifted education, whether directly or by contractual arrangements, administer gifted education services and programs that are in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. To fulfill this responsibility, PDE has established administrative procedures for monitoring program implementation, including evaluating the appropriateness, effectiveness, and accountability of gifted education services and programs.

PDE has developed the schedule for compliance monitoring for the 2020-21 school year, in which 10 school districts of varying sizes across the Commonwealth will be monitored. Additional monitoring, if deemed appropriate, may be designated as the school year progresses.

The Gifted Cyclical Monitoring for Continuous Improvement includes a Gifted Facilitated Self-Assessment (GFSA) completed by each school district and a virtual review by a PDE team, which may include peers who will conduct teacher/parent interviews. The process includes a review of the GFSA submitted by the school district; input from administrators, teachers, and parents; and verification activities of the information reported in the GFSA. Verification activities include file reviews of student documents, studies of service delivery, and analysis of policies, procedures, and outcomes.

School districts to be monitored will be scheduled for virtual training and a recorded presentation will be available. The training will review the virtual monitoring process, documents, and GFSA submission, and provide suggestions and checklists regarding preparation and implementation of the monitoring process. The Gifted Monitoring Manual is located on the PA Gifted web page.  School districts are strongly encouraged to review this document to prepare for the monitoring.

Questions regarding the 2020-21 monitoring schedule should be directed to Shirley Moyer, Special Education Adviser-Gifted at, 717-705-5186 or [email protected].