At its September 12, 2018 meeting, the PA State Board of Education presented its Draft Master Plan for Basic Education. Some highlights of the plan included the following:

• The Board supports the exploration and trial of contemporary and innovative instructional practices that meet local needs and direction.
• The Board applauds recent changes in testing time, but encourages continued consideration of further testing time reductions consistent with federal guidelines.
• The Board believes that, for some students, the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) and National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS) examinations provide suitable assessment alternatives for the high school graduation requirement.
• The Board encourages periodic review of charter and cyber charter school laws and regulations to ensure these continue to meet the needs of all students.
• The Board encourages regional approaches and voluntary sharing of resources and model curriculum.
• The Board encourages a periodic review of the costing out study and an analysis of the suitability of the revised funding formula for possible update as economic conditions and demographic factors change.
• The Board encourages PDE to review its staffing levels to ensure it has the capacity to support the needs of the educational community throughout the Commonwealth.
• The Board will monitor the declining teacher supply problem, which is especially problematic in certain regions and subject areas, and make timely recommendations to the legislature and PDE.
• The Board encourages PDE to monitor unequal investments in technology and infrastructure that could widen the college/career readiness gap for some technology and infrastructure that could widen the college/career readiness gap for some students.

The plan can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.stateboard.education.pa.gov/Documents/Research%20Reports%20and%20Studies/Master%20Plan%20for%20Basic%20Education.pdf