On October 9, 2019, BSE Director Carole L. Clancy released a memo titled Special Education Students Placed in Homebound Instruction or Instruction Conducted in the Home. When a special education student is placed on Homebound Instruction or Instruction Conducted in the Home, the local education agency (LEA) must report the student’s status to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) via the Special Education Students at Home website. PIMS reporting of students receiving Homebound Instruction or Instruction Conducted in the Home does NOT fulfill this additional court-ordered requirement. Timely reporting of such students is required by PDE to meet its obligations of Intensive Interagency (also referred to as the Cordero Court Order).  When a student is reported, regional interagency coordinators will:

• Review each student report and contact the LEA in cases where interagency support may be needed to address student need (e.g., students who have behavioral health needs that are the reason for Homebound Instruction or Instruction Conducted in the Home placement); and
• Collaborate with Intermediate Unit interagency coordinators to support the LEA in connecting families with other county-level child-serving agencies and in collaborating with such agencies.

This reporting helps PDE to build capacity to meet the needs of all students with disabilities who require services from agencies outside of the educational system. While this reporting requirement applies to both Homebound Instruction and Instruction Conducted in the Home, it is important to understand the distinctions between the two arrangements.  The most important difference is that Homebound Instruction is NOT a special education placement while Instruction Conducted in the Home is a placement made by an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. 

Regional interagency coordinators at each Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network office are available for assistance: Pittsburgh – Hillary Mangis at  800.446.5607 or [email protected];  East –Amy Smith at 800.441.3215 or [email protected] ; and Harrisburg – Roni Russell at 800.360.7282 / 717.901.2262 or [email protected].  PDE’s Adviser/Single Point of Contact from the Bureau of Special Education assigned to your area can also assist LEAs in the procedures for Homebound Instruction or Instruction Conducted in the Home. Questions concerning Homebound Instruction or Instruction Conducted in the Home should go to Amy Deluca, Chief, Division of Monitoring and Improvement – West, at 717.736.2650 or [email protected].