On November 13 and 14, 2024, the PA State Board of Education held its bimonthly meetings. On Wednesday, November 13th, PDE’s Raymond Fields presented an update on the Implementation of Pennsylvania’s Educator Workforce Strategy, which included a report on special ed. teacher shortages. To view the slides for that report click here.

On Thursday, November 14th, Deputy Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Ed. Dr. Carrie Rowe reported on PA Firefly, a free tool to schools that is being piloted this year by volunteering LEAs and is designed to provide a snapshot of student progress in specific subjects in light of established benchmarks. It is not required that school districts use the tool, but it will be made available to them free of charge. Her report was followed up by a report from PDE’s Dr. Brian Campbell on results from an examination of Future Ready Index data that showed rate increases with regard to graduation, career readiness, attendance, English Language Learning growth, science scores, and math scores. He also touted the advantages of online proficiency testing, which included inclusivity, accommodation, privacy, expedited reporting, and answer misalignment.

Dr Lee Williams reported on behalf of the Academic Standards/Chapter 4 Committee that the most recent Chapter 4 revisions are slated for consideration by the IRRC on December 5, 2024 and are subsequently scheduled to take effect in early 2025. The next Chapter 4 standards review will focus on health, safety, and phys.ed. as well as the arts and humanities.

The lone action item on the agenda was to approve the renewal of Cognia’s authority to act as a private academic schools accrediting organization.