On February 12, 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) released recommendations from its Blueprint Workgroup, an interdisciplinary group comprised of representation from state and local governments, health care, education, service providers, managed care, and family advocates. The workgroup sought to evaluate challenges children and youth with complex, co-occurring physical and behavioral health care needs and their families experience like accessing care and services that adapt to a youth’s changing circumstances and needs, lessening the likelihood of child welfare system involvement, reducing trauma experienced by instability, prioritizing emotional well-being, and supporting family- and youth-driven care and choice.

One in six children have a diagnosed behavioral or developmental disorder, and rates of depression and anxiety are growing among children and young adults. Youth with co-occurring physical health, behavioral health, and/or intellectual disability or autism-related needs are considered complex cases because they require close coordination between multiple care and service providers in order to ensure the child and their family are receiving comprehensive supports and services that meet their unique and evolving needs.

Care coordination for these cases involve multiple county and state-level entities that coordinate health care, education, and disability services, and, at times, the child and their family may be involved with child welfare, foster care, and justice systems. Children and youth with complex needs are also more likely to have experienced abuse, neglect, and trauma, disruptions to their education, communications challenges, and a complex diagnostic history causing delayed or incorrect services. These circumstances create opportunities for confusion and lack of communication that can affect care. 

Children and youth with complex needs deserve access to the care and supports they need without barriers, delays, or risks of new or additional trauma, and their families and guardians deserve support as they navigate systems of care for their child. The Blueprint Workgroup was established to help guide systems of care towards a renewed focus on youth and family engagement, respect for individual choice, support for the caring workforce, better collaboration and integrated planning between systems that serve youth with complex needs, and timely, accessible, and coordinated service delivery for youth that is responsive to their evolving needs.

Recommendations from the workgroup include:
-Prioritizing prevention through early identification of needs, accurate and timely diagnosis, and prompt service intervention;
-Improving information sharing and resource navigation among child-serving systems of care;
-Developing clear and strong guidance to inform multi-system case planning and management that prioritizes family engagement, evidence-based practices, peer supports between families, streamlining processes for families, and avoids trauma or re-traumatization that can occur when a case information has to be presented by the youth or their family repeatedly;
-Supporting a qualified, dedicated workforce, assessing payment models, and increasing efficiencies for people working in this system where appropriate;
-Conducting a system needs and gaps analysis across child-serving systems to determine opportunities for improvement and establishing multidisciplinary care coordination teams where needed; and,
-Building further understanding of trauma and embed trauma-informed care and principles across systems that serve and interact with children and youth with complex needs and their families.

Moving forward, DHS and Blueprint Workgroup members will begin work to determine work necessary to implement recommendations and identify barriers to implementation at the state and local level. The recommendations outlined in the workgroup’s report are a first step to strengthen supports for children and youth with complex needs and their families. Pennsylvania was also recently selected as one of eight states participating in a children’s behavioral health policy collaborative organized by Health Management Associates, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, the National Association of Medicaid Directors, the Child Welfare League, and the American Public Human Services Association. The convening will build on this work by helping better align multi-system work to support youth with behavioral health needs. 

To learn more about the Blueprint Workgroup and DHS’ work to support children and youth with complex needs, visit https://www.dhs.pa.gov/Services/Children/Pages/Complex-Case-Planning.aspx.

On February 7, 2024, PA Secretary of Education Dr. Khalid N. Mumin sent a PnnLink message to LEAs titled PA Kindergarten Entry Inventory – 2024-2025 School Year. The memo states that all elementary schools are encouraged to implement Pennsylvania’s Kindergarten Entry Inventory (PA KEI) in the 2024-2025 school year to assist in meeting federal requirements. 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 PA KEI is available to all local education agencies (LEAs) at no cost.

The PA KEI collects information on a consistent set of standards-based indicators across the commonwealth. The PA KEI is based on Pennsylvania’s Learning Standards for Early Childhood and the Pennsylvania Core Standards. PA KEI includes 30 indicators and provides a comprehensive profile that includes 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. More information is available at www.kei-pa.org.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides opportunities to strengthen the contribution of high-quality early childhood education in school reform and improvement efforts. The law recognizes that school success starts before a student enters the K-12 setting and calls on states to describe how they will assist LEAs and elementary schools to collaborate with early childhood education programs, and to invest in evidence-based practices. ESSA supports early learning and LEA collaboration in three main ways: (1) expanding access to high-quality early learning; (2) encouraging alignment and collaboration from birth through third grade; and (3) supporting educators. The PA KEI is a tangible tool to assist LEAs in understanding the comprehensive learning strengths and needs of students entering the K-12 setting, establishing common expectations and language for beginning and extending collaborative conversations with pre-kindergarten programs and families, and planning and implementing joint professional development opportunities that focus on strengthening evidence-based practices for young learners.

Implementing the PA KEI requires a Point of Contact (POC) who will serve as the liaison between LEA administrative staff, implementing kindergarten teachers, the Office of Child Development and Learning (OCDEL), and data systems staff. A dedicated POC ensures effective communication and implementation throughout the PA KEI process.

To initiate PA KEI participation in the 2024-2025 school year, send the POC name, email address, and phone number to [email protected] by May 30, 2024.

All kindergarten teachers who have not previously participated must complete a required professional development online course and obtain a certificate of completion to gain access to the web-based data system. Teachers with an expired proficient user certificate (more than five years since certification) must also complete the professional development online course. More information about taking the online course is available here.

Below is the tentative training schedule and timeline for participation:
*March-September: Required professional development online course available
*August-September: PA KEI systems professional development online opportunities available
*By the start of school: Implementing kindergarten teachers must have a required professional development online course certificate of completion on file 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 7, 2024, PDE Bureau of Special Education Director Carole L. Clancy disseminated a PennLink communiqué to LEAs titled State Performance Plan Data Requirements – Postsecondary School Survey – Cohort 3 (MP4S). The memo references the accountability requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 2004 (IDEA) with regard to the secondary transition mandate by which each state is to determine, for the state as a whole, the extent to which students are achieving transition outcomes as stated in their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) (State Performance Plan – Indicator 14).

To meet this federal reporting requirement, once over a five-year period, each local educational agency (LEA) is required to survey all students with IEPs who graduate, dropout, or age out. The My Plan For Success process (MP4S) will be used to gather this data. The random sampling process used to assign each LEA to one of the five years in each cycle ensures that the LEAs selected each year are representative of the state as a whole with regard to LEA size, disability category, ethnicity, gender, and exiting status.

During the 2022-2023 school year, LEAs assigned to Target Sampling Cohort 3 completed the exit process. The LEAs assigned to MP4S Cohort 3 need to be aware of the following points as they must fulfill the post-survey requirements during the 2023-2024 school year:
-No earlier than one year after the student left school and no later than September 30, 2024, the LEA will need to administer the MP4S post survey to former students who had an IEP and who graduated, dropped out, or aged out at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. (These former students should have been administered the exit survey in Spring of 2023). All this information will be entered by your LEA through the Leader Services online system.
-Intermediate Unit and Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) transition consultants will monitor the LEA’s progress and assist as needed with the MP4S procedure.
-The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Bureau of Special Education will provide training on the implementation and electronic submission of the MP4S Target Year 1 to LEAs via a webinar scheduled for April 19, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Please register for this webinar at https://www.pattan.net/Events/Webinar/Course-3290/Events/Session-39197.

For questions about this process, contact Hillary Mangis, Educational Consultant at the PaTTAN-Pittsburgh Office, at (800) 446-5607, ext. 6878 (inside PA) or via email at [email protected].