Building on the Wolf Administrationās efforts to prepare students for a lifetime of success, the Department of Education is announcing the availability of the Computer Science Certification Test for educators seeking to become certified computer science instructors for grades 7-12.
āMore than 300,000 jobs in Pennsylvania require STEM-related skills and there are at least 13,000 unfilled computer science related occupations,ā said Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega. āIn an effort to prepare our students to meet these demands, we need more educators trained in STEM and computer science instruction. The program framework guidelines will allow our educator preparation programs to increase the number of certified teachers who will be able to prepare our students to pursue careers in STEM industries.ā
Computer science courses are currently taught by teachers with certificates in Math, Science, Technology Education, Business, and Computer and Information Technology. Educators are now able to complete a program that leads to Computer Science 7-12 certification. This new certification pathway, built on newly developed program framework guidelines released in December 2018, includes subject-specific competencies student teachers are expected to master and demonstrate as they begin their careers, including algorithms and programming, data and analysis, network communication and cybersecurity.
Certified educators can also add-on the Computer Science 7-12 certification by test and application. This provides for an immediate impact in the number of new computer science certified educators available in the workforce.
Click the following to view the program framework guidelines.
Category: Government Actions
CDC expands local area health estimates to include data for the entire U.S. New PLACES (December 16, 2020)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced the expansion of the 500 Cities Project, a 2016 initiative to provide city- and neighborhood-level health estimates for a large portion of the nationās population. The project is being renamed PLACES, and now provides Population Level Analysis and Community Estimates to the entire United States to show the prevalence of chronic diseases and the health impacts on underserved communities.
Many Americans face health-related challenges like chronic respiratory diseases, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity that put them at increased risk for severe illness from diseases such as COVID-19. The critical information in PLACES can help local and state health departments and community organizations decide where best to target resources to address these health challenges. PLACES data can be used to:
- Inform target prevention activities, programs, and policies;
- Identify emerging health problems and priority health risk behaviors;
- Identify and understand geographic health-related issues;
- Establish key health goals; and
- Identify geographic disparities in health among and within communities to inform strategies that address health equity.
For more info on this topic from the CDC, please click here or go to: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p1209-places.html
PDH Sec. Levine Issues State Face Coverings Order Update (December 15, 2020)
In the latter part of November 2020, PA Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine signed and published an Updated Order of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Requiring Universal Face Coverings. The order officially took effect at 12:10 AM on November 18, 2020.
To view the updated order, click here or visit the PAPSA website at www.papsa-web.org and go to “Downloads” under the “Resources” drop-down.
BSE Notifies LEAs of Act 26 Transition and Work Experience Data Collection (December 12, 2020)
On December 11, 2020, Carole L. Clancy, PDE Director of the Bureau of Special Education, released a PennLink memo titled Revision to Act 26 Transition and Work Experience Data Collection. The memo states that PA House Bill 400, known as Act 26 of 2016, the Work Experience for High School Students with Disabilities Act, was signed into law by Governor Wolf on May 17, 2016. Act 26 directs the PA Department of Labor and Industryās Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) to provide pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities and facilitate the process of job and career development between local educational agencies (LEAs) and public and private employers to ensure the successful transition of high school students with disabilities into competitive integrated employment.
To assist the PA Department of Labor and Industry in meeting the data collection requirements of Act 26 and to minimize any redundancy in data collection and reporting procedures, the Bureau of Special Education (BSE) added the relevant work experience/transition Data Elements to the existing Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS) C4 Special Education data submission. During the 2016-17 school year, LEAs began collecting data based on the items pertaining to work experience for students with disabilities involved in transition planning as part of their IEPs. The data elements are reported annually on the PIMS C4 Special Education Transition/Exiting Collection for students 14 years of age or older or any student who has a transition plan as part of their IEP.
Through collaboration with Employment First PA, the PA Department of Labor and Industry and the PA Department of Education are committed to ensure the collected data regarding transition experiences correlates to the intent of the law. For the 2020-21 school year, the PIMS data collection pertaining to work experience for students with disabilities involved in transition planning as part of their IEPs will be updated as follows:
- Does this student have a transition plan as part of the IEP?
- Does the student have an outcome goal of competitive integrated employment?
- Did the student participate in a competitive integrated paid work experience?
- Did the student participate in individual job coaching services funded by the school in a paid work experience?
- Upon exiting high school, was the student employed in a competitive integrated setting?
After the PIMS C4 Special Education Transition/Exiting Collection in June 2021, BSE will be sharing this aggregated data with OVR for inclusion in its annual Act 26 reporting. An updated PIMS manual will be forthcoming.
PDE Releases Gifted Education Update (December 8, 2020)
On December 7, 2020, Carole L. Clancy, Director of the PDE Bureau of Special Education released a Gifted Education Update. According to the memo, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has the responsibility to ensure that all school districts, whether directly or by contractual arrangements, administer gifted education services and programs that are in compliance with applicable state laws and regulations. In order to fulfill this responsibility, PDE established contracts with two intermediate units (IU) (Allegheny IU 3 and Montgomery County IU 23) to provide professional development and technical training across the Commonwealth.
Join the PA Gifted Education team to hear information on the state of gifted education, answers to common questions and online resources on Thursday January 21, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and/or Thursday April 7, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Registration is open at http://giftedinpa.eventbrite.com/.
School Administrators are strongly encouraged to attend one of the sessions.
Questions may be directed to Shirley Moyer at 717.705.5186 or [email protected]; Amy Davis at 412.394.4193 or [email protected]; or Patrice Semicek at 610.755.9483 or [email protected].
BSE thanks you in advance for the work that has been accomplished in gifted education across the Commonwealth. PDE recognizes the time and effort required on behalf of school districts to successfully administer gifted education programs.