On February 18, 2020, PDE disseminated a Penn*Link on behalf of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). The memo included a PEMA circular regarding the statewide All Hazards exercise to be held in March. LEAs are urged to direct any questions to the applicable county emergency management office of the PEMA Training and Exercise Division at [email protected].

On February 18, 2020, Dr. Lee Burket, PDE Director of the Bureau of Career and Technical Education, released a PennLink memo titled 2020-2021 CATS Secondary Program Approval File – OPEN.  The memo urges LEAs to share the information provided with high school principals, career and technical education (CTE) supervisors, curriculum coordinators, applicable department chairs, business managers, school counselors, CTE instructional staff, and school support personnel. It states that the 2020-21 CATS Secondary Program Approval file is now open for new secondary CTE program approval requests.  The CATS file is a series of individual pages containing data elements pertaining to various aspects of approved CTE programs.  The Bureau of Career and Technical Education recommends that approval for programs of study (POS) be sought for all programs for which a POS exists.  For programs for which a POS has not been developed, seek Career and Technical approval.  All approved programs must be delivered as POS or Career and Technical.  All industry certifications MUST be entered for the teacher and students.  The deadline for seeking new program approval is May 29, 2020. CATS can be accessed at the login on PDE’s homepage.

The memo further states that the Career Pathway Option is a program consisting of a minimum of two related classification of instructional programs (CIPs) that are POS approved programs and offer the same foundational technical curriculum the first year. The newly updated CATS Secondary Program Approval Instructions are available on the PDE website.

In addition, any secondary institution may submit a request for POS approval.  Currently, there are 43 POS available on PDE’s website. The competency/task grid for each POS is the foundational curriculum framework for the CIP.  Therefore, all competencies/tasks must be addressed in the approved program. POS competency/task grids have been revised and are posted on the PDE website. Local Education Agencies must use the most recent list available. Additional competencies should be added as recommended by your Occupational Advisory Committee.  Each course in the scope and sequence must be crosswalked to the task grid and aligned to the course where the tasks are taught. The approved POS will provide the benefit of the articulated credits indicated by the statewide group of postsecondary institutions on CollegeTransfer.net.

Questions are to be directed to Tammy Keisling, at (717) 783-6996 or email [email protected].

PDE has announced that The 2019-2020 school year Restraint Information System Collection (RISC) is open for data entry. The system has been enhanced to give local education agencies (LEAs) greater opportunity to provide both more detail about restraints and to analyze trends in reducing the use of physical restraints. The Bureau of Special Education (BSE) continues to require LEAs to report the restraints that occurred in each quarter. This reporting process permits LEAs to report restraints in a timely manner which, in turn, allows LEAs to monitor patterns of episodic behaviors and address them accordingly. The third quarter end date is 3/31/20, the last day to report is 4/15/20, the zero window opens on 4/1/20, and the zero window closes on 4/15/20.

Questions regarding RISC should be directed to either of the following Special Education Advisers: Keith Focht at 717-783-6921 or [email protected] / Pat Haglund at 814.662.2662 or [email protected].

On February 13, 2020, BSE Director Carole L. Clancy released a PennLink memo regarding gifted education programming. The memo states that  PDE is responsible for ensuring that all local educational agencies (LEAs) providing services, whether directly or by contractual arrangements, administer gifted education services and programs in compliance with applicable state laws and regulations.  In order to fulfill this responsibility, PDE has established contracts with two Intermediate Units (Allegheny IU 3 and Montgomery County IU 23) to provide professional development and technical training across the Commonwealth.  The memo also welcomes Amy Davis (IU 3) and Patrice Semicek (IU 23) to the state level team and, along with Shirley Moyer, they are  inviting all IU Gifted Liaison’s to attend a face-to-face meeting on April 23, 2020, in the Lancaster Room at the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network in Harrisburg from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. to map out the needs of the field. Questions may be directed to Shirley Moyer, 717.705.5186, [email protected]; Amy Davis, 412.394.4193, [email protected]; or Patrice Semicek 610.755.9483, [email protected].

PDE recognizes the time and effort required on behalf of LEAs to successfully participate in gifted education and thanks them for their cooperation in complying with this state mandated requirement.

On January 29, 2020, BSE Director Carole L. Clancy, released a memo to LEAs titled Review of Enrollments in the Approved Private School Electronic Management (APSEM) System as a follow-up communiqué to a prior notification regarding the review of School Year 2018-19, 4010 enrollments through the Approved Private School Electronic Management (APSEM) system.  LEAs are now asked to use the following instructions to review their enrollments.

1. Log-in as an Approved Private School (APS) or a Local Educational Agency (LEA) User.
2. Click the Reports link on the header.
3. Choose the 4010 Enrollment Report from the report dropdown.
4. Choose 2018-19 from the School Year dropdown.
5. Click on the Run button.
6. Click the Open button at the bottom of the screen to open the spreadsheet.
7. Review the 4010 enrollments data, including the student name, date of birth, primary exceptionality, age category, etc.

Please forward this email to the individual responsible for the APSEM data review in your APS or LEA.  If you have questions regarding this information, please contact Janette Fulton at 717-425-5442 or [email protected].