PDE receives initial approval of ESSA state plan changes
 The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has received tentative approval from the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) for amendments to the state plan for implementation of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). While many of the amendments to the state plan are technical, three substantive changes are included:
- Adding additional specificity around Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) designations that must occur annually, beginning in the fall of 2019;
- Examining academic achievement and academic growth in determining annual meaningful differentiation; and
- Aggregating racial and ethnic group student data by public schools in which no individual racial or ethnic student group meets the minimum n-size of 20 in any single year.
The TSI designation will be used as an early warning for schools and will be made annually. The other support designations, which were made last fall (2018), are Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (A-TSI) and Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI); these schools are designated on a three-year cycle. The TSI standards will be more rigorous than the CSI and A-TSI thresholds. Once final approval is received, PDE will be issuing information to school entities.
PSBA will continue to report on this issue.
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State Board of Education approves Keystone Exam composite score
 This week the State Board of Education approved PDE's recommendation for a satisfactory Keystone Exam composite score of 4452 that would be used as one of the pathways to graduation under Act 158 of 2018. See PSBA's summary of Act 158 changes to high school graduation requirements.
A composite score is the sum of the scale scores for the three Keystone Exams (Algebra I, biology and literature). A student must achieve at least a scale score of 1500 on any one exam in order to score proficient, with 4500 as the sum of three proficient scores. The composite score of 4452 benefits the student by helping to ensure that a student who may have missed the composite cut of 4500 due to measurement error is not prevented from being able to graduate. Act 158 also requires that students who meet the board-approved composite score (4452) must also score proficient on one of the three exams and no less than basic on the other two. PDE noted that approximately 65.4% of the 2017-18 grade 12 population scored at least 4452 and were proficient on one exam and at least basic on the other two.
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New performance descriptors, cut scores approved for PASA tests
 This week the State Board of Education also approved PDE's recommendations for Performance Level Descriptors (PLDs) and cut scores for the revised PA Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) tests in English language arts and math for students with significant cognitive disabilities who are unable to participate in the general state assessments. The revisions were required to be developed because the assessments were redesigned to encompass two levels of complexity rather than three. Historically, the PASA was designed with three levels of difficulty for each subject (ELA, math and science) and grade level. In 2016, the PASA science test was transitioned from three levels of difficulty to two tiers of complexity. During the 2018-19 test administration cycle, the tests for ELA and math were revised to be aligned with the two-tier structure. Each tested subject now consists of two tiers of complexity at every grade level.
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Budget Wrap Up
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Signed into law, subsidy allocations
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Omnibus School Code amendments, Act 16 of 2019: House Bill 1615 contains omnibus amendments to the Public School Code related to the distribution of education subsidies and grants under the 2019-20 state budget and makes numerous other changes to the School Code, including revisions regarding compulsory school age, payments owed for school meals, innovation schools, extension of the PlanCon moratorium, and more.
Omnibus school safety and security amendments, Act 18 of 2019: Senate Bill 144, makes various changes to Act 44 of 2018 as well as sets new provisions regarding trauma-informed education and training, changes to the school safety grant program, PSP risk assessment teams, school threat assessment teams, access of records deemed necessary for the health and safety of students, and more.
Farm-to-School program, Act 34 of 2019: House Bill 1514 revises and re-establishes the Healthy Farms Healthy Schools program into the PA Farm-to-School Program, to provide grants for improving childhood nutrition education and increasing exposure to agriculture for children in grades Pre-K through 5.
Flexible instruction days, Act 64 of 2019: Senate Bill 440 allows schools to use Flexible Instructional Days (FIDs) in the instance of a cancellation to fulfill instructional requirements in English language arts, math, science and social studies. Interested schools would apply with the PA Department of Education (PDE); approved applications would be valid for three years, when the school would need to reapply. School districts may use up to five flexible instructional days per school year.
School security personnel, Act 67 of 2019: Senate Bill 621 makes numerous changes to the School Code concerning school security personnel, which includes school police officers, school resource officers (SROs) and school security guards. Act 67 establishes training requirements, provisions on who is authorized to carry firearms, additional requirements of the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), and more.
PlanCon reform, Act 70 of 2019: Senate Bill 700 modernizes the state approval process for reimbursement for school construction and renovation projects (known as PlanCon).
Act 5 PSERS/SERS technical cleanup, Act 72 of 2019: Senate Bill 724 amends the Public School Employees' Retirement Code and the State Employees' Retirement Code to make technical corrections to certain sections added or amended by Act 5 of 2017, and adds provisions for nonparticipating employer withdrawal liability under PSERS.
For details on the budget and provisions under these acts, see PSBA's special reports: June 25, June 27, June 28.
For PDE's district allocations under the enacted budget:
Summary of state appropriations for education
Basic education subsidy
Special education subsidy
Ready to Learn Block Grant
Career and Technical Education subsidy
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