In a continuing effort to better serve the educator workforce, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has revamped its website to allow current and prospective educators to more easily access information related to certifications.

“Throughout the extensive feedback we solicited from educators and administrators, PDE heard loud and clear that both its certification process and webpage needed to be improved, and the department acted expeditiously to make the process more seamless and easier-to-use,” said Acting Secretary of Education Eric Hagarty. “Along with dozens of action steps woven into the department’s Educator Workforce Strategy, these changes will improve customer service and help educators more easily obtain the services and resources they need.”

The site restructure used analytics to determine which pages were most highly visited and prioritized them in this effort. The Certification page is consistently one of the most visited pages on the PDE website. Since January 1, 2022, the page has had more than 209,000 unique visitors.

Changes to the Certification page include more easy-to-follow breakdowns on common topics that educators are searching for; condensed and updated frequently asked questions; a step-by-step guide and instructional YouTube video for first-time users; and more.

This effort responds to feedback received from the field and supplements PDE’s recently released strategic plan to recruit and retain more educators across the commonwealth, The Foundation of Our Economy: Pennsylvania Educator Workforce Strategy, 2022-2025.

Some participants in the feedback sessions noted that the current website for certification and the Teacher Information Management System (TIMS) are not intuitive and are hard to navigate. Some complaints were shared regarding the difficulty in remembering the login to the site.

Additionally, as noted in Pennsylvania’s ARP ESSER State Plan, PDE is in the process of identifying upgrades for both the Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS) and the TIMS to better anticipate educator staffing needs at local education agencies (LEAs) across Pennsylvania.

The educator-workforce plan builds on the Wolf Administration’s efforts over the past eight years to ensure a high-quality education to learners of all ages across the commonwealth. The administration has increased education funding by more than $3.7 billion since 2015, with an historic increase of $1.8 billion in this year’s final budget.

For more information about Pennsylvania’s education policies and programs, please visit the PDE website.

The Pennsylvania departments of Education, Health, Human Services and Insurance are reminding families to ensure their children’s immunizations are up to date as part of back-to-school preparations.

Vaccine-preventable diseases, such as chicken pox, meningitis, measles, whooping cough, and others are still seen across the commonwealth. Keeping children up to date on vaccinations is the best way to keep them healthy and reduce unnecessary absences from school. Staying up to date with immunizations provides the best protection against disease and is essential to individual and population health.

Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance plans, including those bought through Pennie®, as well as the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid, are required to cover school vaccinations as a free preventive service without charging a copayment or coinsurance.

These immunizations are covered regardless of whether or not the yearly deductible has been met. However, it is important to make sure that the doctor or provider who administers the immunization is within your health insurance plan’s network, or you may be responsible for the cost.

Immunization-preventable diseases can be very dangerous, may require hospitalization, and can even result in death. A discussion with your doctor or your child’s doctor can help determine which vaccines are needed.

“Getting vaccinated and staying up to date is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to prevent disease,” said Acting Secretary of Health and Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson. “Vaccines help protect everyone, including people with compromised immune systems who cannot get vaccinated. It is essential that everyone, especially children, are up-to-date on all recommended immunizations before heading back to school.” 

In recent years, a change in state regulations altered the provisional period in which students could attend school without their vaccinations from eight months to five days. Children in grades K-12 need the following immunizations for attendance: tetanus, diphtheria, polio, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), hepatitis B, and chickenpox. Children entering the seventh grade also need additional immunizations of meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV) and tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis (Tdap). If a child does not have at least one dose of the above immunizations, they risk exclusion from school. Additionally, while the COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory to attend school, the Wolf Administration encourages Pennsylvanians ages 5 and older to get the COVID-19 vaccine to help ensure their safety during the 2022-2023 school year.

Health coverage is available for all children in Pennsylvania. No family makes too much money to purchase coverage through CHIP, and families or children may qualify for coverage through Medical Assistance. CHIP and Medicaid can ensure parents can access affordable health coverage and care for their children. Immunizations and well-child visits necessary to help kids stay healthy are covered through both of these programs.

“As a parent, I want to do everything I can to protect my kids and keep them safe. By vaccinating my kids, I am sending them off to school this fall knowing that they are as protected as possible from preventable diseases, and I encourage other parents to do the same,” said Acting DHS Secretary Meg Snead. “DHS administers programs like Medical Assistance and CHIP so that families and children don’t have to go without health care coverage, including important and potentially life-saving vaccinations.”

More information on CHIP can be found at www.chipcoverspakids.com. Families can apply for coverage through the CHIP program and determine their eligibility for Medical Assistance and other public assistance programs online at www.compass.state.pa.us. Those who prefer to submit paper documents can print from the website or request an application by phone at 1-800-692-7462 and mail it to their local County Assistance Office (CAO). Families do not need to know their own eligibility in order to apply.

Anyone looking to visit a local immunization clinic to receive vaccinations should call 1-877-PA-HEALTH (1-877-724-3258) to schedule an appointment. Pennsylvanians should have their vaccination records available when they call to make an appointment. A parent or legal guardian must accompany a child receiving immunizations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes August as National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). This annual observance highlights the importance of getting recommended vaccines. Whether children are homeschooled or attend a public, private, charter or religious school, state laws require they stay up to date for certain vaccinations based on their age, as recommended by the CDC.

Additional information on immunizations can be found on the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s website at health.pa.gov.

On July 27, 2022, Carole L. Clancy, Director of the PDE Bureau of Special Education, sent a PennLink message titled  2022-23 Gifted Compliance Monitoring Schedule to all LEAs. The message states that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has the responsibility to ensure that all school districts providing gifted education, whether directly or by contractual arrangements, administer gifted education services and programs in compliance with applicable state and federal laws and regulations. In order to fulfill this responsibility, PDE has established administrative procedures for monitoring program implementation, including evaluating the appropriateness, effectiveness, and accountability of gifted education services and programs.

PDE has developed the schedule for compliance monitoring for the 2022-23 school year, in which 10 school districts of varying sizes across the Commonwealth will be monitored. Additional monitoring, if deemed appropriate, may be designated as the school year progresses.

The Gifted Cyclical Monitoring for Continuous Improvement includes a Gifted Facilitated Self-Assessment (GFSA) completed by each school district and a virtual and/or onsite review by a PDE team, which may include peers who will conduct teacher/parent interviews or file reviews. The process includes a review of the GFSA submitted by the district; input from administrators, teachers, and parents; and verification activities of the information reported in the GFSA. Verification activities include file reviews of student documents; studies of service delivery; and analysis of policies, procedures, and outcomes.

Districts to be monitored will be scheduled for virtual training. The training will review the virtual/onsite monitoring process, documents, and GFSA submission, and provide suggestions and checklists regarding preparation and implementation of the monitoring process. Monitored districts are strongly encouraged to review the Gifted Monitoring Manual on PDE’s website and to seek assistance from your IU Gifted Liaison to prepare for the monitoring.

Questions regarding the 2022-23 monitoring schedule outlined below should be directed to Shirley Moyer, Special Education Adviser, at 717-903-2938 or [email protected].

LEA	Week to be Monitored
Ambridge SD	October 17, 2022
United SD	October 31, 2022
East Stroudsburg SD	November 7, 2022
Camp Hill SD	December 12, 2022
Northwestern Lehigh SD	January 9, 2023
Neshaminy SD	January 30, 2023
York City SD	February 6, 2023
Colonial School District SD	March 6, 2023
Johnstown SD	April 17, 2023
Altoona SD	May 1, 2023