Act 13 of 2021 revised the Educator Effectiveness System used to evaluate temporary professional employees (TPEs) and professional employees (PEs) in Pennsylvania. The new requirements in the law and the regulatory revisions in 22 Pa Code Chapter 19 took effect beginning in the 2021-22 school year.

Wellness and nutrition benefits expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic are rolling back in March and April 2023. Educators should be aware of nutrition and medical assistance changes and recognize that they may have an impact on wellness for some children while families adjust to previous program requirements and limitations.

This Advisory details the changes to medical and nutrition benefits, identifies student behaviors that might stem from these changes, and shares resources and suggestions for those needing further assistance.

Structured Literacy, Professional Ethics, & Culturally Relevant and Sustaining Education

In 2022, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education and Legislature mandated that specific training requirements be incorporated into Local Education Agency (LEA) professional development plans through revisions to Chapter 49 of the Pennsylvania Code and the passage of Act 55 of 2022.1

Maintaining safety for students and staff is the single most important endeavor for every public school in the Commonwealth and across the nation. When students with disabilities demonstrate behaviors of concern, IEP teams must act expediently to reduce the likelihood of harm and to ensure that all regulatory requirements have been implemented with supporting documentation. Schools and districts access outside community resources for students and families when behaviors of concern are beyond that which can be addressed adequately in the school setting.

Beginning with the graduating class of 2023, students must meet the requirements of at least one approved graduation pathway as defined by Act 158 of 2018 (Act 158). State law allows students to meet statewide graduation requirements by either demonstrating proficiency on Keystone Exams or demonstrating postsecondary preparedness through one of four additional pathways.

To help educators gain fluency in terminology related to LGBTQ+ student identities, this In Brief includes an overview of the distinctions between three elements of every person’s identity: sex, gender, and attraction orientation. Some individuals may identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, or other identities included within the LGBTQ+ community, depending upon how they identify across these elements.

Educators working to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ students may find it useful to consider their behaviors and dispositions in four areas – internal, interpersonal, instructional, and institutional. — and then seek to expand their professional skillset for supporting students in each of these four areas. This In Brief shares the kinds of strategies that educators can implement to support LGBTQ+ students in each of these four areas. 

On April 23, 2022, the final form amendments to Chapter 49: Certification of Professional Personnel became effective upon publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The process to update Chapter 49 began in November of 2018 when the Secretary of Education presented recommendations for amendments to the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. The Secretary's recommendations were informed by multiple stakeholder convenings, along with a report on certification research and recommendations prepared by the Learning Policy Institute.

Although substitute teacher shortages have been an issue for several years, increased educator retirements, fewer new educators entering the workforce, and quarantine and isolation requirements related to the pandemic are exacerbating the shortages in the 2021-22 school year. This leaves classrooms uncovered, disrupts learning, and makes it harder to ensure student safety. In response, Pennsylvania’s Act 91 of 2021, which passed with bipartisan support, expands the pool of potential substitute teachers and pilots a classroom monitor program.

Act 13 of 2020 and the Chapter 19 regulations revised the Pennsylvania Educator Effectiveness system beginning in the 2021-22 school year. With these revisions, PDE edited Charlotte Danielson’s Frameworks for Teaching by incorporating content related to trauma-informed practices, cultural relevance, remote teaching strategies, career readiness, equity and inclusion, and social and emotional wellness. These modified Frameworks should inform the Observation and Practice portion of the system.

Act 13 of 2020 and the Chapter 19 regulations revised the Pennsylvania Educator Effectiveness system with changes beginning in the 2021-22 school year. One prominent change is the removal of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) as a mandatory way to measure student performance data.

This information is background on ARP ESSER Funding Amounts and Acceptable Uses. Local leaders should contact their UniServ Representative for specific advice and guidance on ARP ESSER Funding issues in their LEA.

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) of 2021 provides Pennsylvania with nearly $4.5 billion of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds for eligible expenses between March 13, 2020, and September 30, 2024.

This Advisory addresses basic elements of ARP ESSER Fund distribution, requirements, and allowable expenses to help members, union leaders, and union staff advocate for appropriate use of ARP ESSER funds at the LEA level.

On March 27, 2020, Governor Wolf signed Act 13 to enact important protections for public schools related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to these protections, Act 13 also revised Pennsylvania’s Educator Effectiveness System in significant ways, beginning in the 2021-22 school year. PSEA participated in crafting these changes to the Educator Effectiveness System along with legislators and other key stakeholders. During these deliberations, PSEA focused on attaining several goals: 1) reduce the impact of standardized tests and student performance measures and increase the weight of observations of professional practice on educator ratings; 2) recognize the impact of poverty on student performance measures used to calculate educator ratings; 3) shorten the 10-year “look-back window” for educators who received a needs improvement rating; and 4) encourage greater collaboration to improve instructional practices

On March 27, 2020, Governor Wolf signed Act 13 to enact important protections for public schools related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to these protections, Act 13 revised Pennsylvania’s Educator Effectiveness System in significant ways.

These revisions will begin in the 2021-22 school year.

Revisions beginning in the 2021-22 school year

On March 27, 2020, Governor Wolf signed Act 13 to enact important protections for public schools related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to these protections, Act 13 also revised Pennsylvania’s Educator Effectiveness System in significant ways. These changes go into effect in the 2021-22 school year.

On Nov.25, 2020, Governor Wolf enacted Act 136 in an effort to address the urgent needs of schools, educators, and aspiring educators in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Elements of Act 136 impact schools, educators, and pre-service educators seeking certification in the 2020-21 school year. Changes fall into four main areas: educator evaluation; assessments and graduation requirements; initial educator certification; and continuing education requirements for educators, including support professionals.

Many schools across Pennsylvania are returning to in-person or hybrid instruction in the next month. District-approved plans will drive most initiatives to mitigate risks associated with COVID-19, and many policies and procedures established in district plans will focus on maintaining social distance among everyone in school.

Many schools across Pennsylvania are returning to in-person or hybrid instruction in the next month. District-approved plans will drive most initiatives to mitigate risks associated with COVID-19, and many policies and procedures established in district plans will focus on maintaining social distance among everyone in school.

ESSA establishes specific opportunities for students with disabilities and the educators who work with them. In particular, ESSA makes some changes in the areas of standards and assessments, accommodations, reporting of assessment results, accountability and educator qualifications for students with disabilities.  

Educators and support professionals feed students’ minds and bodies every day, through high quality teaching and learning as well as by assuring students receive at least one well-balanced, nutritious, hot meal daily. Schools have provided subsidized lunches to students since the enactment of the National School Lunch Act in 1946, and in 1966 federal student meal programs expanded to include breakfast. In 2016, more than 30 million children participated in the National School Lunch Program, and 14.5 million children participated in the School Breakfast Program.

Two bills became law in 2017 that impact high school graduation requirements in Pennsylvania. On November 6, 2017, HB 178 was enacted into law as Act 55 of 2017. HB 178 was an omnibus bill that contained a number of legislative pieces, including language around the use of the Keystone Exams. Previously, HB 202 passed into law on June 21, 2017. This legislation, Act 6, amended the school code creating an alternative pathway to meet graduation requirements for career and technical education (CTE) students.

UPDATE: Changes to the Law via HB 1448 – Omnibus School Code Bill

HB 1448, effective July 1, 2018, amends Act 55 related to furloughs of professional employees to require a school entity to realign its professional staff to provide more senior employees the opportunity to fill any positions in the school entity for which they are certificated and which are being filled by less senior employees, subject to the order of suspension set forth in Section 1125.1 of the School Code.

On November 6, 2017, Act 55 of 2017 was enacted, amending the school code to: 1) add a new basis for the furlough of professional employees by school entities; and 2) change the rules associated with the order in which professional employees are furloughed. 

Act 86 of 2016 permits identified non-licensed school employees to perform diabetes care and management, including administering glucagon and insulin to students with diabetes.

In each school building attended by a student with diabetes, the school nurse, in consultation with the chief school administrator or a designee, may identify at least one school employee to manage diabetes care, including monitoring blood glucose and administering diabetes medication. (login required)

Two amendments affect the continuing professional education requirements of Pennsylvania’s school professionals. The first allows for the carryover of Act 48 hours from one compliance period to another. The second extends every certificate holder’s compliance period by one year.

The Pennsylvania Department of Education announced two important certification changes for 2016-17.

One of the key areas where states have regained decision-making authority from the federal government is over teacher qualifications. Over the last 15 years, NCLB required states to adopt specific criteria related to teacher qualifications; those requirements have been removed from ESSA and determinations of appropriate teacher qualifications are now made at the sole discretion of the state.

Beginning in 2017-18, Pennsylvania’s ESSA State Report Card must include information about: 1) the statewide accountability system; 2) statewide student outcomes; 3) statewide teacher qualifications; and 4) other information to help parents and members of the public have an understanding of the condition of public schools in the Commonwealth. Local education agencies (LEA) also must publish a report card that includes similar information for the LEA and for individual schools.

In general, ESSA reduces federal intervention in state education policymaking and allows states more authority to design their own education, assessment, and accountability systems. The move away from federal to state and local authority in the new law is particularly apparent in the area of educator evaluation.  

ESSA delineates the role of educators in decision-making at the federal, state, and local level by ensuring that their voices are included in important policy discussions around student achievement, school improvement, and professional support and working conditions in schools. In many cases, ESSA reiterates educator involvement in decision?making that was established in earlier iterations of the law; in other cases, ESSA expands educator involvement. Specifically, educators are assigned specific roles in planning, review, and approval of policies, programs, and regulations related to ESSA implementation.  

Although student assessment provisions in ESSA provide somewhat broader authority for states than under NCLB, several general requirements from NCLB still apply. For example, ESSA continues to require that assessment results only be applied to purposes for which they are valid and reliable. ESSA also continues to require states to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress in grades 4 and 8. In several other areas of assessment policy, however, ESSA broadens state discretion over decision-making; in some cases, ESSA establishes new programs to encourage states to develop more innovative and efficient assessment systems.

In lieu of AYP, which was required under NCLB, ESSA requires each state to establish long-term goals and measures of interim progress toward the goals. ESSA does not place any restrictions on a state’s goals except that the goals must apply to all students and every subgroup and must address, at a minimum, proficiency on state tests and high school graduation rates. State goals must reflect the improvement necessary to close math and reading proficiency rates and graduation gaps for student subgroups that lag behind state averages on these measures.

On December 10, 2015, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for four years and enacts significant changes from the previous iteration of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In general, ESSA reduces federal intervention in state education policies and programs and assigns substantial decision-making authority to individual states. The law includes an implementation schedule that requires states to be ESSA-compliant by 2017-18.

Although classroom teachers can still use both “mastery” and “growth” measures in an SLO, beginning in 2015-16, every classroom teacher must include at least one growth measure on the SLO(s).

In July 2015, the Pennsylvania State Board of Education adopted cut scores for the newly redesigned PSSA that will result in significant changes to the percent of students in grades 3 to 8 scoring at each of the four performance levels1 on the mathematics and English language arts (ELA) assessments. The new PSSAs and related cut scores are explicitly designed to be more rigorous, making it noticeably harder for students to achieve advanced and proficient scores on the new PSSA in 2015 than on the previous test administered in 2014.

School employees often have questions when employers direct staff to administer medication to students. One medication frequently prescribed for students who may have an anaphylactic allergic reaction in school is epinephrine, which is administered through an pinephrine autoinjector to treat anaphylactic allergic reactions. There have been some recent developments in Pennsylvania which provide guidance to school employees with regard to administration of epinephrine auto-injectors. (login required)

Occasionally a Local Education Agency (LEA) and a parent agree to allow the parent to take an additional role in the education environment as a paraprofessional or personal care assistant (paid or unpaid) for his or her own child. There are pros and cons to such an arrangement. This advisory was developed to help members navigate the new relationship between professional staff and parents created by such assignments. 

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has released regulations governing the implementation of the new Educator Effectiveness System for “non-teaching professionals.” 

On June 22, 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) published regulations pertaining to the new teacher evaluation system. The regulations clarify several issues related to the new system, including the implementation timeline and the weights of specific data elements. These regulations apply to all non-charter public school classroom teachers working on Instructional I and II certificates. Regulations pertaining to the evaluation of education specialists must be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin by June 30, 2014.

PDE is working with educators from across the Commonwealth to adapt the new rubric to reflect the different work of several categories of professional assignment. As described below, specific elements of the new system will reflect the professional assignments of special educators, licensed professionals, education specialists, and educators assigned to positions in ESL, gifted, and library sciences. 

The Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program gives corporations significant tax credits for contributing to an “opportunity scholarship” program that provides grants to students who reside within the attendance boundaries of a “low achieving school.” The “opportunity scholarship” can be used to pay for a student from a low achieving school to attend a participating nonpublic school or a participating public school outside of the student’s home district.

In 1996, Charlotte Danielson wrote Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. This book is a research-based examination of teachers’ practices and responsibilities presented in the form of a “road map” to help novices understand their work, guide individual improvement among experienced professionals and encourage professional conversations among teachers. Danielson imagined that the Framework would be used as a basis for encouraging “structured dialogue about teaching.”

Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE) and Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) have partnered to develop this booklet as a helpful tool for you to teach and encourage growth of every student’s advanced cognitive abilities

As the pressure to reform schools to focus on improving student achievement grows, more and more schools are experimenting with new kinds of scheduling. Generally, schools are examining several different kinds of course schedules that assign students fewer classes a day for a longer period of time. This new scheduling system is most common in secondary schools, but some elementary schools have also experimented with innovative scheduling.

More than a decade of research has consistently confirmed the impact of small class size on student achievement.

Coaching is school-based professional development that assigns educators with specific knowledge and skills to work with teacher colleagues to improve classroom practice. An effective coach makes teachers' jobs easier by demonstrating how and why certain strategies will make a difference in student learning, and then working alongside teachers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to put those strategies into practice.