On February 17, 2023 PDE Bureau of Special Education Director Carole L. Clancy sent a PennLink message to all LEAs titled State Performance Plan Data Requirements – Postsecondary School Survey – Cohort 2 (POSTS). The PennLink was sent in reference to the accountability requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA).  It is regarding the secondary transition mandate by which each state is to determine, for the state as a whole, the extent to which students are achieving transition outcomes as stated in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) (State Performance Plan – Indicator 14). 

To meet this federal reporting requirement, once over a five-year period, each local educational agency (LEA) is required to survey all students with IEPs who graduate, dropout, or age out.  The Pennsylvania Post-School Outcome Surveys (PaPOS) will be used to gather this data.  The random sampling process used to assign each LEA to one of the five years in each cycle ensures that the LEAs selected each year are representative of the state as a whole with regard to LEA size, disability category, ethnicity, gender, and exiting status. 

During the 2021-2022 school year, LEAs assigned to Target Sampling Year 1 completed the exit survey.  The LEAs assigned to PaPOS Target Year 1 need to be aware of the following points as they must fulfill the post-survey requirements during the 2022-2023 school year: 
-No earlier than one year after the student left school and no later than September 30, 2023, the LEA will need to administer the PaPOS post survey to former students who had an IEP and who graduated, dropped out, or aged out at the end of the 2021-2022 school year.  (These former students should have been administered the exit survey in Spring of 2022).  All this information will be entered by your LEA through the Leader Services online system. 
-Intermediate Unit and Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) transition consultants will monitor the LEA’s progress and assist as needed with the PaPOS procedure.
-The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education will provide training on the implementation and electronic submission of the PaPOS Target Year 1 to LEAs via a webinar scheduled for April 19, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.  Please register for this webinar at  PaTTAN – Session-38041 For questions about this process, or to determine LEAs are assigned to 2022-23 PaPOS Target Sampling Year 2, contact Elaine Neugebauer, Educational Consultant at the PaTTAN-Pittsburgh Office, at (800) 446-5607, ext. 6867 (inside PA) or via email at [email protected].