The PA Department of Health (PDH) has named Colleen Schultz M.Ed., RN CSN as its new Chief of the Division of School Health. She replaces Jill Clodgo.

Ms. Schultz has been a certified school nurse since 2008. As for joining PDH, Ms. Schultz says, “I look forward to this new and exciting opportunity to work with all schools across the Commonwealth.”

Those wishing to contact Ms. Schultz can email her at: [email protected].

Also, in a March 4, 2020 Penn*Link communique, PDH released its March 2020 School Health Update. The update can be obtained on the PAPSA website by clicking here.

On February 24th, Deputy Secretary Matthew Stem released  a memo titled Participation in State Assessments and Parental/Guardian Rights Afforded Under Chapter 4 and Accountability Under ESSA. According tot he memo, as the PSSA and spring Keystone testing windows approach, LEAs are reminded of the requirements for participation in state assessments. 

The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) continues to require participation of all students; however, in recognition of special circumstances, USDE provides some flexibility for five (5) percent non-participation.  This 5 percent flexibility is important to Pennsylvania, as Chapter 4 regulations allow parents/guardians to have their children excused from testing due to a conflict with religious belief.  Though Pennsylvania regulations permit this excusal, USDE does not recognize this as an allowable reason for non-participation and all students who do not participate due to the allowance in Chapter 4 will have a negative impact on an LEA’s/school’s participation rate, and potentially achievement rate as well. (For more information, please view the webinar: https://youtu.be/kPIWKVDkqII.) The provision in Chapter 4 specifically says:

 § 4.4 General Policies.

            (d) School entities shall adopt policies to assure that parents or guardians have the following:

(4) The right to review a State assessment in the school entity during the convenient hours for parents and guardians, at least 2 weeks prior to their administration, to determine whether a State assessment conflicts with their religious belief.  To protect the validity and integrity of the State assessments, each school entity shall have in place procedures to be followed when parents or guardians request to view any state assessment.  Procedures must be consistent with guidance provided by the Department in its assessment administration instructions.  If upon inspection of a State assessment parents or guardians find the assessment to be in conflict with their religious belief and wish their students to be excused from the assessment, the right of the parents or guardians will not be denied upon written request that states the objection to the applicable school district superintendent, charter school chief executive officer or AVTS director.

Parents/guardians are not to be denied their right to have their children excused if they follow proper protocol.  Parents/guardians must sign a confidentiality agreement form prior to reviewing the assessment.  After reviewing the assessment, parents/guardians must state in writing to the school district superintendent, charter school chief executive officer, or AVTS director that they wish to have their child(ren) excused from the assessment due to a conflict with religious belief.  The specific conflict does not need to be stated; simply that it is a conflict with religious belief.

 LEAs and schools are encouraged to seek 100 percent participation in the assessments, but please be reminded of parents’/guardians’ rights under Chapter 4.

On February 25, 2020, Pedro A. Rivera, PA Secretary of Education, released a PennLink memo titled  Kindergarten Entry Inventory – 2020-2021 school year. Pennsylvania’s Kindergarten Entry Inventory (PA KEI) is a reliable reporting tool that offers teachers an instructional strategy for understanding and tracking a student’s proficiency at kindergarten entry. The tool collects information on a consistent set of standards-based indicators in the domains of: Social and Emotional Development; English Language Arts; Mathematics; Approaches to Learning; and Health, Wellness and Physical Development. PA KEI is intended to be used by kindergarten teachers to record a student’s demonstration of skills within the first 45 calendar days of the kindergarten year. The PA KEI is available to all LEAs at no cost. For more information about the Kindergarten Entry Inventory, please visit: www.kei-pa.org. The PA KEI is a tangible tool to assist districts in understanding the comprehensive learning strengths and needs of students entering the K-12 setting, in establishing common expectations and language for beginning and extending collaborative conversations with pre-kindergarten programs and families, and in planning and implementing joint professional development opportunities that focus on strengthening evidence-based practices for young learners. For LEAs choosing to implement the PA KEI, a Point of Contact (POC) is required. The POC will act as the liaison between LEA administrative staff, implementing kindergarten teachers, OCDEL, and data systems staff. Having a dedicated POC will ensure that effective communication and implementation occurs throughout the PA KEI process. 

LEAs are asked to send the POC name, email address and phone number to [email protected] by May 29, 2020. Receipt of this information will initiate PA KEI participation in the 2020-2021 school year. All kindergarten teachers who have not previously participated must complete a required professional development online course and obtain a certificate of completion in order to gain access to the web-based data system. Teachers with a proficient user certificate of completion do not need to repeat the professional development protocol. 

The tentative training schedule is as follows: April – June:                Face-to-face skills and scoring practice professional development available / dependent on number of teachers and availability of OCDEL staff; April – September:      Required professional development online course available

ALL implementing kindergarten teachers without a proficient user certificate of completion MUST complete either face-to-face training or a required professional development online course.

August – September:  PA KEI systems professional development opportunities available. By the start of school: Implementing kindergarten teachers must have a required professional development online course certificate of completion on file in order to gain systems access

45 calendar days from start of school:    Observation and evidence collection/scoring completed

60 calendar days from start of school:    Data submissions (student outcomes) finalized within data system

Questions about this communication may be sent to [email protected].

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].