• FusionLIVE! presentation

• IU1 Virtual Summer Institute - Save the Date August 3 and 4, 2021

  • • • Washington County Teachers will receive free access to the Summer Institute through a grant!  

• American Rescue Funds (ESSER 3 funds) 

  • • • As outlined in the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s (PDE) March 29, 2021 guidance on ARP ESSER funding, PDE will post weekly updates on its implementation of the ARP ESSER fund, beginning April 9. The April 16, 2021, updated edition is available on PDE’s ARP ESSER Fund Answers to FAQs webpage 

      • IU1 Programming for AR funds include Tutoring services, Synchronous Fusion courses, Professional development contracts, and more shared services!

      • Each of these documents includes specific ways funds can and should be used to promote better outcomes for young children

        • • Checklist of ARP Benefits for Parents   This document is a compilation of direct federal benefits available to families with the links that enable families to educate themselves and tap the benefits.  I hope you will share this document widely with your networks!  We are happy to share the Adobe Illustrator files of this ARP Checklist for Parents if anyone wants to customize it for your state or locality.

          • ARP Guide for School Investments:  This is a guide for parents and school board members to use in devising plans for deploying ARP resources to address learning loss and improving student outcomes.  

          • ARP Guide for Counties and Municipalities:  This is a guide for local residents to use to encourage local government to use a portion of ARP funds to improve the lives of children. 

• PDE Accelerated Learning Program 

  • • • PDE Accelerated Learning Registration - Free Act 45 credits

      • One-page Schedule for all sessions synchronous and asynchronous (most 20-30 minutes long)  

      • Asynchronous Modules can be viewed here soon! 

      • At end of session, you will receive a code for a survey to complete with your PPID in order to receive your Act 45 hours

• Assessment

  • • • Waiver was approved and it is the only waiver PA will get from USDOE; It did not waive the assessment...You must still test students!!  

        • • • 95% participation rate waiver approved and districts will not be penalized in data for less than 95%, but must make a good faith effort and produce evidence, if monitored, as PDE can hold you accountable for this

              • • Examples of Good Faith effort include but are not limited to the following: create a plan, have teachers complete test administration training, put Student ID stickers on books, arrange for transportation for students who have not been attending school in person, consider test schedule that reduces the number of days virtual-only students would need to be in the building for testing,  document communications to families (including Covid safety protocols and through multiple means sms, letter, email, etc...), make sure communications include versions in language of preference for families of ELs, create material storage plan for the event of Covid related building closure, set up waiting area and activities for students to complete before and after test on testing day, plan for make-up testing, etc... 

                • Monitoring - PDE shared they will be looking for some of the following: announcement to community (more than 2-3 sentences) about your testing window which testing window must be similar in length to a regular testing window; whole day testing windows must show your plan to provide transportation and food to the students; evidence could be parent letters/emails to the school opting out student; put testing on website homepage 

                • The only legal opt out of testing is for religion reasons; cannot opt out because of COVID 

            • No new school designations for next year

            • This year's assessment data will never be used in future years for future designations 

            • This year's assessment could still count towards Pa Act 158, but this is being debated by legislators and this could change

            • If a student is in a trigger course and opts out of taking the test this year, they will NOT be considered a first time test taker in the future if they chose to take the test at a later date

            • Legislation having discussions about waiving testing for graduation requirements for this school year only, but this is not official; PSEA is pushing for this (schools recommended not to move trigger courses to next year) 

      • PDE must report results of testing despite the waiver; schools will still need to complete the attribution process - this is coming soon from PDE and is required to be completed 

      • You are only responsible for testing students enrolled with you during the original state testing window.   You do NOT have to test anyone who moves in over the summer or after the last day of the original testing window defined by the state.  Students will show up as non-participating for original district transferred from.  

        • • • Original Testing Windows:

              • PSSA: April 19 - May 28, 2021

              • PASA: March 8 - May 7, 2021

              • Keystone Exams: May 17 - June 25, 2021

      • SPP only has 4 data elements for this year when it is published; won't be communicated; no SPP but there is still a calculation 

      • PSSA/Keystone Data and Reports

        • • • Complete and return PSSA by June 15, 2021 and/or Complete and return Keystones by July 15, 2021 (it does not have to be all or nothing completed and returned) 

              • • If this happens, districts will get access to their district student file only(large spreadsheet) in August.

                • Emetric and individual student reports will appear at end of entire testing window sometime in December or January.  

• Educator Evaluation Updates

  • • • Rubrics were approved by state board of education

      • Next steps are guidance documents and score keeping tool (former 82-1) given to stakeholder group and outside research firm

      • Between now and June make final edits and go to state board in June

      • New materials/training released sometime in late June  

• Act 158 Graduation Updates

  • • • Toolkit on SAS; not yet on PDE website but coming soon!

      • Applies to current 10th graders graduating in 2023; current 11th and 12th graders follow current local graduation requirements 

      • Coming Soon!  Tracking tool for schools by November

      • PDE will provide PD on the tool kit beginning this fall on Act 158 

• Local Assessment Introduction and FAQ

  • • • Schools must get information from their vendor system extracted and be loaded into PDE's system

      • First week of May will be a quick webinar regarding local assessment data entry (May 4) 

        • • • Will explain the data entry and what is needed

      • Reports will be produced will look similar to PVAAS reports and will be located in the PVAAS system somewhere

      • Local assessment data entry template will open mid-May through late June (approximately 6 weeks)  

      • PDE working with vendors like OHS to make the data entry easier

      • Performance reports for grades 1-3 unless you submit multiple years to calculate growth; K will be performance only

      • Reports will indicate gaps in learning for the nationally normed test; For the CDT the demo was run with multiple years of matching student data sets

• FAYETTE COUNTY Students ONLY - IU1 is running two TANF Summer Camps around Career Awareness in Manufacturing for students in grades 9-12 that qualify 

  • • • Pre-Apprenticeship & Digital Fabrication Camp

      • TITANS of CNC Academy Camp

• Remake Learning Days

• Esports Update

  • • • IU1 Campus Schools currently competing internally

      • Expand league to all IU1 schools next year

      • Curriculum and Career Connections 

• Instructional Coaching in PA

  • • • Do you plan to have any instructional coaches in your schools for the 2021-2022 school year?

• Reminder: There will be no Spring roster verification process for PVAAS in Spring 2021. This is a result of PDE guidance on SY20-21 employee evaluation, https://www.education.pa.gov/Schools/safeschools/emergencyplanning/COVID-19/20-21FAQs/Pages/EmpEvals.aspx. This indicates no teacher-specific data, i.e., no PVAAS teacher-specific reporting.

• Determining Instructional Models Update April 5, 2021

• Wheel of Power and Intersectionality  Resources 

• The Meaning Beyond the Words: How Language, Race, and Culture Impact Science Teaching and Learning

• IMPORTANT UPDATE: The definition for equity from PDE has been updated and reflected and on the PDE Equitable Practices Hub. It now includes religion and gender identity. Please feel free to update your stakeholders, as we have received some pushback for the lack of including these two categories as adopted from the CCSSO original definition.

  • • • In Pennsylvania, equity has been defined as "every student having access to the educational resources and rigor they need at the right moment in their education across race, gender, ethnicity, language, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, family background and/or family income (www.ccsso.org)." 

      • Equity Weekly Updates can be found here. 

Computer Science 

 CSinPA K-8 Virtual Pathway  at IU1- Registration Closes Soon! Click here to learn more

Code.org Scholarship Opportunities

• • Are you interested in expanding CS opportunities to all of your students across your middle school and high school?  Your teachers may be eligible to apply to participate in Code.org CS Discoveries and CS Principles workshops for free!

  • Computer Science Discoveries and Principles workshops are offered at no cost to most teachers accepted into the program. Apply now!

    • If your teachers don’t meet the requirements to attend at no cost, the program is still only $999 per teacher, which is a nearly 65% discount off the national cost.

• The program fee covers the full year-long program including teaching materials, workshop supplies, 9 days of professional development, and meals during workshops (if, in-person). Additional travel costs are not covered. 

• The curriculum, online student learning platform, and access to support from the teacher and Code.org community are available to all schools year round.

PA Science Leadership Team- Team is now full!

Sarah Durzo

Matt Weightman

• PancakeBots available at a lowered cost of just $50.  Its a great item for someone looking for an inexpensive CNC machine that's sure to grab attention (of eyes and nose) and get students more interested in  computer design and fabrication.  Check it out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2iVsfq_X4 

• The Mobile Fab Lab is available for rent.  As your schools are beginning to get back to normal, consider giving your students an exciting opportunity with the Fab Lab equipment where they'll get to do some computer design, but more importantly at this point in time, some fun, hands-on STEM activities.  Contact me at matthew.weightman@iu1.org or 724-938-3241 x580 to reserve the mobile lab.