On Monday, September 18, Governor Wolf signed off on the commonwealth’s compliance plan for complying with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The plan – which was formulated after 18 months of meetings with educators, parents, and other stakeholders across the state – was submitted to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for her approval. Now state officials must wait for USDE’s response to the plan. Initially, USDE will conduct a compliance and completeness check, followed by a peer review, an informal phone discussion; and then a formal letter will be sent laying out the federal department’s recommended revisions to the plan. All of this is expected to happen within the next 120 days. The plan establishes what PDE has described as “ambitious yet attainable” goals. Those goals include raising student performance, increasing graduation rates, having English learners move toward achieving English language proficiency, shortening state exams for third through eighth graders, establishes a new school report card that expands the indicators used to measure performance and places less emphasis on state test scores.

At its September meeting, the State Board of Education reported that PA will be filing its ESSA plan with USDE on September 18. The plan is the culmination of two years of work. USDE will review the plan and PDE will then have a 15-day window to make any necessary revisions. Subsequently, USDE will provide a written determination within 120 days. Highlights of the plan include academic proficiency goals. One goal aims to cut in half the percentage of non-proficient students on PSSA and Keystone exams by 2030. Another goal is to cut in half the number of students who fail to graduate, with cohorts being both four and five years. The plan also includes a reduction in time required for standardized testing. Beginning in Spring 2018, testing time will be reduced by up to 20% across all affected grades. In Spring 2019, testing windows will be condensed from three weeks to two weeks to minimize disruption to the instructional program. Testing will also be moved to later in the school year.

As you are likely aware, on August 1, 2017, new requirements for school immunizations went into effect for the 2017-18 school year. These new regulations shorten the provisional enrollment period for students who are not fully immunized from eight months to five days, and update some vaccination requirements for school-age children. The regulations apply for all students in Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools, including public and private schools. Additional information regarding these new regulations is available on the PA Department of Health’s webpage:http://www.health.pa.gov/My%20Health/Immunizations/School/Pages/default.aspx.

The Department has recently updated its basic education circular (BEC) regarding School Immunizations to reflect requirements under Pennsylvania’s new health regulations.  This revised BEC aims to address many of the questions that PDE has received from local educational agencies (LEAs) regarding implementation of these new requirements. The attached BEC is also available on PDE’s website:http://www.education.pa.gov/Pages/Codes%20and%20Regulations/Basic-Education-Circulars.aspx#tab-1.

Additional questions regarding the guidance and recommendations contained within the BEC should be directed to Jeanette Medina, School Services Office, at 717-214-9755 or [email protected].  Questions related to the new school immunization requirements and available resources should be directed to the PA Department of Health’s Division of Immunizations at 717-787-5681.

New state regulations regarding required student immunizations got underway as schools opened their doors for the 2017-18 school year. Included in the new requirements is the need for seniors to have a received a second meningitis vaccine by the fifth day of school. This is in addition to the first meningitis vaccine, which is required prior to entering seventh grade. School officials across the commonwealth have been working hard to get students into compliance, and most have significantly pared down the number of students who have yet to comply with the new regs. Many students are being allowed to stay in school as long as they can provide proof that required vaccinations are scheduled with a healthcare professional, or if they have a religious or medical reason for not getting immunized. In many cases, school nurses and pupil services administrators have led the charge in helping to bring students into compliance, and numbers of students in jeopardy of being excluded from school have been greatly diminished. At the Bangor Area School District, Student Services Director Dr. Joseph Kondisko reported that there were initially nearly 500 students out of compliance. That number was whittled down to 48 by the time school began. Ultimately, only five students were excluded, but they have already returned to school. Dr. Kondisko also reported that at Bangor many parents had followed through on getting their students immunized, but held off on providing the needed documentation to the school. Please visit the drop-down titled State under the Government link on this site for more information.