The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) announced that $1.5 million in grant funding is available to establish or expand opportunities for practicing paraeducators in Pennsylvania schools to become special education teachers at no cost while actively learning and working in their school. PA Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin sees the grants as a way to “create a robust pipeline of high-quality educators is by allowing paraprofessionals to earn credentials while they’re already working in the classroom [and can] transition seamlessly from paraprofessional to educator.”

The grants will create new special education career pathways for paraeducators; increase the number of practicing paraeducators earning certifications, and/or postsecondary credits/degrees; and increase the number of practicing paraeducators pursuing PK-12 special education teacher certification through enrollment in a PDE-approved special education PK-12 certification program.

Intermediate units (IU) that partner with at least one community college located in Pennsylvania and at least one local education agency (school district, approved private school, career technical education center, charter school, cyber charter school, or chartered school for the deaf or blind) may apply for the grant.

IU grant recipients must design and deliver a program to ensure paraeducators within their IU region can participate in networking with other paraeducators, receive academic support, attend courses at no cost, and obtain advanced Credentials of Competency for Special Education Paraeducators in Pennsylvania and/or associate of arts degrees. They must also partner with at least one community college to design and deliver a program to ensure completion of all required program competencies within a two-year period, provide instruction through a combination of in-person and virtual options to meet the needs of paraeducators working full-time, and establish or expand credit for completion of program competencies fulfilled on-the-job. Finally, grant recipients must partner with one or more schools in the IU region to provide paraeducators with mentoring by experienced special educators during the school year and provide scheduling flexibility to allow time for coursework during the school day. 

Applications must be submitted by 11:59 PM on Friday, August 11, 2023. Applicants may request up to $50,000, and funding for each successful grant application will be available until December 2025.

For more information on the Pennsylvania Department of Education, please visit PDE’s website.

On July 12, 2023 the PA State Board of Education held its 375th meeting. The meeting was held both in person and via virtual means.

At the meeting, Chairperson Karen Farmer White announced that Dr. Khalid Mumin has been confirmed by the PA Senate to serve as the PA Secretary of Ed. Chairperson White also introduced Dr. Carrie Rowe, who is the new PA Deputy Sec. of Ed. for Elementary and Secondary Ed. She also reported that four new Board members, who were nominated by Governor Shapiro, have been confirmed to serve on the Basic Council of Education.

Later during the meeting, during her remarks to the Board, Deputy Sec. Rowe spoke of the urgent need for aviation mechanics and how schools need to make this known to students considering a career.

Chairperson White also recognized Highmark as a Student Leadership Program Partner and a resolution was passed to acknowledge the support Highmark has provided via grant funding to provide an opportunity for student voices to be heard in the state education process through student members of the Board.

The Special and Gifted Ed. Committee presented an eight-page report. It was stated that there is a periodic review – every four years – of Chapter 16. The most recent review began in the fall of 2022. Recommendations to improve the delivery of gifted ed. was provided to the Board by the committee. Those recommendations included such items as:           
-School districts should be required to post their approved gifted ed. plan on their website as is currently done with Chapter 4 procedures.
-There needs to be an increase in understanding the characteristics of gifted students.
-There is a need to provide training for educators regarding the delivery of gifted ed. through IUs and for data regarding such.
-Undergrad teacher prep coursework should be required to include gifted ed.
-There is a need to expand the advisory committee to ensure including school psychologists since they play such a critical role on identifying gifted students.
-The committee supports revising guidelines for identifying gifted ed. students, including a look at criteria used.  
-Caseloads for gifted ed. instructors must be examined for appropriateness and should be monitored.
-The Board should provide the report to the General Assembly along with a request for an increase in state funding for gifted ed.

The Professional Standards and Practices Commission presented its annual report, which noted that 45% of disciplinary actions taken against school staff by the commission were related to sexual misconduct. It was also reported that a new model of ethics for educators will be developed in keeping with Chapter 49.

A report titled “How the Pandemic and Remote Learning Shaped Education and Health Outcomes in Pennsylvania” was given by PDE’s Candy Miller and officials from Mathematica. The report was based on survey information from LEAs during the summer and fall of 2021. Other sources of data came from PDE and DHS. The report looked at school instruction changes and found, among other things, that LEAs had a difficult time of providing special ed. services and that there was a higher attrition rate for early career staff and staff of color. It also found that remote learning by itself had a negative impact on test scores, but did not appear to affect graduation rates.

The State Board will post its 2024 meeting calendar on the PDE website.