On June 15, 2023, 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. Acting Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin.

viewed it 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 June 13, 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) released the latest issue of the Positive Approaches Journal which aims to provide the most recent research and resources for people with mental health and behavioral challenges, intellectual disabilities, autism, and other developmental disabilities to help them live an everyday life. This edition focuses on examining the stigma that persists around mental health and disabilities, and highlighting methods to combat and correct it. It features research and articles on the following:

• Data Discoveries: Data discoveries in this edition break down the perceptions and stigma of individuals who disclose their autism diagnosis in their workplace.
• The Importance of Peer Support and Stigma Awareness: My Journey in Mental and Physical Health: This article details the real-life experience of a father whose daughter experienced instances of mental health stigma but was helped by peer supports.
• Life Through My Lens: An Exploration of Self-Stigma: This article discusses the importance of addressing mental health stigma within oneself in order to address stigma in the world. The Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumers’ Association has developed a class to help people in reducing self-stigma and understanding what it means to feel good about themselves.
• Overcoming Stigma Through Education and Capacity Building in Communities: This article talks about the role that social stigma plays in the lives of those with disabilities and offers a case study in how to build collaborative supports within communities to ensure that people with disabilities can lead everyday lives.
• Mental Health Stigma Across Ethnic Minority Identities: This article addresses different mental health stigmas surrounding ethnic and racial identity, and how it can impact mental health care.
• Lessons from the Community: The Critical Importance of Lived Experience When Designing Trauma Recovery Programs: This article reviews the importance of community engagement when designing clinical interventions and supports. This research highlights the need for enhanced trauma recovery and resilience building for the neurodivergent community following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The journal is a collaboration of DHS’ Office of Developmental Programs and Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and collects resources, observations, and advancements in mental and behavioral health in order to better serve the people of Pennsylvania.

Read this edition of the Positive Approaches Journal.

For more information visit www.dhs.pa.gov.

On June 12, 2023 PDE Bureau of Special Education (BSE) Director Carole L. Clancy, Director Disseminated a PENN*LINK titled Survey of Parents of Students with Disabilities. The memo states that Pennsylvania’s State Performance Plan requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) include collecting and reporting data on the involvement of families in special education programs.

Specifically, states must report annually to the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDE) Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the public on State Performance Plan Indicator 8 which is the: “percent of parents with a child receiving special education services who report that schools facilitated parent involvement as a means of improving services and results for children with disabilities.”

Like many other states, Pennsylvania is collecting this data through a large-scale survey. Pennsylvania reports results of the survey to OSEP in its State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report. This report is posted on the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) websites. Reporting on local educational agency (LEA) performance is done through the Special Education Data Reports on the PennData website.

To ensure that parents from every LEA in the commonwealth are included in the survey, PDE developed a sampling plan that was approved by OSEP. Under this sampling, each year PDE collects data from a representative sample of parents in approximately one-fifth of the LEAs in the Commonwealth.  In addition, not all parents will receive the survey as it is a sample within each LEA.  The LEAs in this year’s sample are listed below. Parents receiving the survey were selected from PA Special Education Data using a stratified random sample of school age students in each LEA. Surveys will be mailed directly to the parents from Leader Services in the next few weeks.

The survey being used was developed by the National Center for Special Education Accountability Monitoring under a grant awarded to that center by OSEP. The survey can be viewed at Leader Services-Parent Survey. Additional information about the survey can be found on the PaTTAN website at PA Indicator 8 Information.

A letter that accompanies the survey assures parents that their responses will be confidential. Parents may direct questions about the survey to the Special Education Consult Line at 800-879-2301. Should parents contact LEA personnel about the survey, staff should encourage them to participate in the survey process.

At this point, LEAs do not need to take any specific action. However, if an LEA wishes to alert families to watch out for the surveys, this may serve to facilitate and encourage participation. Questions regarding the PENN*LINK may be addressed to Barbara Mozina, Special Education Adviser, at [email protected].

On June 9, 2023, PA Bureau of Special Education (BSE) Director Carole Clancy sent a Penn*Link message titled July 2023 Special Education Table 8A Submission. The message states that in July 2023, Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) assigned to this year’s reporting cohort will submit their data for Special Education Table 8A, Report of Children with Disabilities Evaluated July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. Below is a list of all LEAs required to submit Table 8A this July. If an LEA does not appear on this list, the LEA is not required to submit Table 8A data in July 2023

Table 8A data is collected on a cyclical basis. Those LEAs that are to submit Table 8A to the Bureau of Special Education (BSE) will be informed of such in June this year. Regardless of their reporting status, all LEAs in the state must continue to collect and maintain data regarding timely evaluations so that the LEA can assess its on-going compliance and program effectiveness and be prepared to report data to the state when notified to do so.

Table 8A is used for two purposes:
1. To calculate and report to the federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) an annual state rate of compliance with timelines for completing initial evaluations of students to determine their eligibility for special education under the State Performance Plan; and
2. To report to the public on the performance of LEAs in the commonwealth in complying with the required timelines.

Data collected over the past several years on compliance with timelines for initial evaluations show that while many LEAs have achieved full compliance, others have not. When LEAs do not comply and improve performance, the overall state rate reported to OSEP is negatively affected. Further, any LEA that reports less than 100 percent compliance with timelines will be required to engage in quarterly reporting to the BSE to document correction of noncompliance. Therefore, it is imperative that all LEAs be as accurate as possible in collecting and reporting Table 8A data.

OSEP has advised that states should factor out from their Table 8A calculation those students whose evaluation timelines are affected by two exceptions in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations. Specifically, Section 300.301(d) allows that the 60-day timeline for completing initial evaluations does not apply to a public agency if (1) the parent of a child repeatedly fails or refuses to produce the child for the evaluation, or (2) a child enrolls in a school of another agency after the timeline has begun and prior to a determination by the prior agency as to whether the child is a child with a disability. This second exception applies only if the subsequent public agency is making sufficient progress to ensure prompt completion of the evaluation and the parent and subsequent agency agree to a specific time when the evaluation will be completed. To ensure accurate reporting, it is critical that when a delay in meeting timelines occurs, LEAs must correctly code the reasons for the delay in accordance with the exceptions above.

The Table 8A Template for the July 2023 submission is available on the Special Education Data Reporting website at https://penndata.hbg.psu.edu under the Data Management tab in the 2022-2023 section; scroll down to Table 8A Template.

Selected LEAs must submit their Table 8A to their Intermediate Unit Data Manager no later than July 7, 2023. Questions regarding completion and submission of Table 8A should be referred to the Intermediate Unit Data Manager. Questions regarding the Penn*Link message may be referred to Jodi Rissinger in the BSE at [email protected].