Accelerated Learning Resources

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PASCD Conference report

• East side of state

• Leadership

• Literacy

  • Decoding

  • Vocabulary

  • ?  This is what is missing

PVAAS Updates

Online Help Resources for Management

• • Account Management Hierarchy

  • Account Types and Report Access

  • Extra Permissions

  • Creating and Managing District Users 

  • Creating and Managing School Admins 

  • Creating and Managing School Users

Roster Verification

Roster Verification Checklist

PDE PVAAS Roster Verification webpage - includes links to:

• • eLearning on RV Tasks and Actions

  • Re-Visiting PVAAS Roster Verification video recording (35 minutes)

  • Roster Verification: Make the Most of PIMS video recording (52 minutes)

  • Registration links for webinar on Preparing for an Efficient Roster Verification Process on April 6 and April 12

Roster Verification Cheat Sheet

New PVAAS Look

  DBAPPS - Difference between actual and pre-pandemic projected scores

  The PVAAS Statewide Team for PDE, in collaboration with SAS EVAAS, are expected to release the following updates in the coming weeks:

• LEA/district, school, and student group level Unfinished Teaching and Learning measures for PSSA and Keystones will be released to LEAs/districts reflecting the 2020-21 assessments.

• LEA/district and school value-added reporting for PSSA and Keystones will be updated to reflect these 2020-21 state assessments.

• LEA/District and School Value-Added and Diagnostic reports have undergone a major update and will have a fresh new look and user-friendly design.

• Student Projections will be updated based on 2020-21 state and college & career-ready assessments.

• Growth of Student Groups reporting will be updated based on 2020-21 assessments and will now be available at the district level as well as the school level.

• Student enrollment will be updated on the PVAAS site, based on PIMS enrollment data your LEA/district submitted by noon on February 3, 2022.

• Local Assessment growth measures will be added to the Diagnostic reports, Growth of Student Groups, and School Quintile Diagnostic Summary for LEAs/districts and schools who previously received local assessment value-added reporting.

New Resources coming to PVAAS

• • Value-Added Tri-fold Desk Reference

  • Click Paths - I want to know - What do I click - What will I see?

• School Leader Flip -It

We are happy to announce the upcoming professional learning opportunities being offered in April. Visit our Professional Learning page on the PDE PVAAS website at PVAAS SY21-22 Professional Learning at a Glance for session details, including registration links. Please share this information with your appropriate teams. 

• ·   Jump in the PVAAS Driver’s Seat: NEW PVAAS Value-Added and Diagnostic Reporting

• ·   Revisiting PVAAS in 2021-2022 – What Does This Mean for LEA/District Leaders?

• ·   Revisiting PVAAS in 2021-2022 – What Does This Mean for School Leaders?

• ·   Auditing Your Assessments: Is What You are Using Working?

• ·   Preparing for an Efficient Roster Verification Process

• ·   New School Leaders – How Do I Build and Enhance a Data Culture?

• ·   Building Capacity to Support English Learners & Your ESL Program: A look at How PVAAS can Support that Work

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING, RESOURCES AND SUPPORTS

• Details about statewide webinars will be announced when reporting is released.

• Visit the PVAAS login page ("Understanding PVAAS") for new resources related to the reporting redesign and an online guided tour.

A-TSI Updates

• Currently designated A-TSI schools are required to submit and monitor a school improvement plan for 2022-23.

• The 2022-2023 planning templates are now available in the FRCPP.

• PDE is working to collect data that will inform a new round of designations in the fall.

• Quarter 3 – January 1-March 31; reports due in FRCPP April 30, 2022

• Quarter 4/Final – April 1-June 30; reports due in FRCPP July 31, 2022

ACT 158 Updates

• Act 158 Tracking Tool is now available.

• How do I access it?  Click here 

• Will the ACT 158 get pushed back a year?  Brian Campbell from PDE said that he strongly feels that it will NOT get pushed back a year.

• However, there is a possibility of increasing the waiver % for 2023 only!

Comprehensive Planning/FRCPP updates

Bus Evacuation Report

• Released on 2/1/22.  Due for submission on 4/10/22

• Found under "Reports" - "Safe Schools" in the FRCPP

• Must be assigned to users with permissions by the LocalUserAdmin

K-12 Guidance Plan Updates

• K-12 Guidance Plan Update

• The K-12 Guidance Plan (339) is available in the FRCPP for all phases.

• Only LEAs who send students to a CTC or have CTE programs are required to complete the plan.

• Click here for the Master Phase configuration list. (This is now aligned with Comp Plan and Special Education Phases.) The following letter went out to the field on 3/11/22 to address the change in phases for LEAs.

• If you need assistance completing the K-12 Guidance Plan, a how-to guide can be found here.

• Guidance Plans are due the year after the Comprehensive Plan is due.

• If your district completed the guidance plan and submitted your plan in FRCPP, that district will NOT have to submit their plan until the next wave of phases.

Assessment Updates

Question:  Are students who obtained “only” a Proficient or Advanced in Alg Keytsone able to retake the Keystone for a higher cut score to go towards the Pathway #2?  So a chance to increase the composite score, if needed?

Yes, while a student is not required to re-test for an Act 136 waived exam, they certainly may volunteer to do so in order to increase their opportunities to     achieve the Composite score.

Additionally, , if a student does choose to retest, a numerical score on a retest does not cancel out the non-numerical proficiency. Thus, the student may have a numerical score in the Basic range for the sake of their composite score but maintain the non-numeric Proficient for use in their proficiency pathway. We maintain the most favorable result for the student in both cases. We won’t take a positive result “off the books”, to your point of doing no harm to a student’s options.

Remember this is all in relation to graduation. The numeric score and corresponding performance level are reported for accountability. There are no NNP scores recognized in accountability calculations

2021 Winter Keystone Exam Dates:

• March 23, 2022 – District Student Data Files Released

• March 28, 2022 – Parent Letters available on Data Interaction

• April 12, 2022 – Data Interaction updated

• April 13, 2022 – District and School Summary Reports Available

• May 2, 2022 – Individual Student Reports (ISR) delivered 

PSSA Dates

• March 11, 2022 – Handbook for Assessment Coordinators and Directions for Administration Manuals Posted

• By March 28, 2022 – Shipment 1 Manuals Arrive

• By April 11, 2022 – Shipment 2 Secure Materials Arrive

• April 11, 2022 – Additional Materials Ordering Window Opens

• April 25-May 13, 2022 – PSSA Testing Window

• May 6, 2022 – Materials pick up for early student reporting

• June 3, 2022 – Early Student Reporting Results Performance File Released

• June 6, 2022 – Early Student Reporting Parent Letters Released

• June 21, 2022 – Final Student Reporting Performance File Released

• July 24, 2022 – Final Student Reporting Parent Letters Released

• September 20, 2022 – Data Interaction updated

• September 27, 2022 – Individual Student Reports Arrive

• October 3, 2022 – District and School Summary Reports Available

Keystone Dates

• March 18-22, 2022 – Test Setup Window for Precode Labels

• March 21-April 1, 2022 – Testing Dates Collection Window

• April 6, 2022 – Handbook for Assessment Coordinators and Directions for Administration Manuals Posted

• By April 18, 2022 – Shipment 1 Manuals Arrive

• By May 2, 2022 – Shipment 2 Secure Materials Arrive

• May 16-27, 2022 – Spring Keystone Testing Window

• June 2, 2022 – Materials pick up

• June 27-29, 2022 – Keystone Corrections Window

• July 15, 2022 – District Student Data Files Released

• July 19, 2022 – Parent Letters available

• August 4, 2022 – Data Interaction updated

• August 5, 2022 – District and School Summary Reports Available

• September 13, 2022 - Individual Student Reports Arrive

The 2022 Spring Assessment Update Newsletter has been posted to the DRC eDIRECT website. This issue includes the following topics:

• Information about the importance of using the Corrections Systems to ensure accurate reporting

• Information about the transition to the Desmos calculator in 2022-2023

• Information about the advantages of testing online

• Information about the importance of keeping contact information up-to-date

• Information about early reporting for the 2022 assessments

• Information about the Keystone Exams and the Composite scores and the Coronavirus Exemption

• A quick reminder about how to return materials

• Page four has the list of upcoming dates

  You do not need a user ID or password to access the newsletter. To access the newsletter, click here.  

Here is a link to the Assessment Coordinator Trainings for PSSA and Keystone Testing: 

PSSA Training Keystone Training 

New Items from Keystone DRC training:

• Use of the keystone exams as a graduation requirement will begin with the 22-23 school year.

• (exempt 19-20 students have a proficient score already)

• There are now 5 pathways to graduation (Act 158)

• Beginning in 22-23 PDE will transition to DESMOS calculators for online assessments including CDTs, PSSA and Keystone exams

   New items from PSSA DAC training:  (This training was almost identical to the Spring Keystone training above with the exception of the removal of the spring keystone information)

• Beginning in 22-23 PDE will transition to DESMOS calculators for online assessments including CDTs, PSSA and Keystone exams

    Early reporting

• Early Reporting was offered for the first time with the 2019 PSSA, and schools from across the Commonwealth took advantage of the opportunity to receive their results faster by meeting the early‐reporting deadlines. PDE and DRC are excited to re‐introduce this option for the 2022 PSSA.  All answer booklets that are shipped to DRC by May 6, 2022 (the end of the first week of the Math and Science window), and all completed online tests will be included in the early‐reporting release of Student Performance Files on June 3, 2022—Parent Letters will be available June 6 on Data Interaction. Answer booklets returned after May 6, including booklets held through the May 9 ‐13 window for math/science make‐ups, will not be included in early reporting. Those student records will be included in a second round of PSSA reporting on June 21, 2022. Student scores from both early reporting and the second round of reporting will be included for all accountability reporting.

The 2022 Summer Keystone Exams Enrollment Window is open now through March 30, 2022.

• If your LEA is planning to participate in the 2022 Summer Keystone Exams, we need you to provide online testing numbers and/or order paper-pencil materials. You must provide counts during this window to receive testing materials, manuals, and future correspondence. This is also an opportunity to update contact information for this administration.

• The Online Enrollment System can be accessed via the DRC INSIGHT Portal. After logging in, click on the applications dropdown, then select Materials. Next, click on Enrollments. For your reference, the DRC INSIGHT Portal User Guide is available for download.

• District users must view and update their district-level contact information. District-level details are found by selecting (All) in the school drop-down.

• Entering projected counts (online and paper/pencil) assists DRC with systems setup and further communications. If you are planning to test online, you must enter online counts to receive the online testing manuals. 

Trauma in Schools Series

• Podcast

PDE Content Updates

PDE SAS Updates

Esports

We held our first monthly esports networking meeting last week. We will be holding a tournament in the later part of May.

    PIEA is excited to get our Spring Fling Overwatch tournament started! Registration will close at  midnight on 3/31,so please register your teams here!

Teams can be composed of individuals from other schools if necessary. This is a friendly and fun tournament with no prizes for the champion.

Game titles are anticipated to have default days with the option to reschedule the games to be completed by Sunday of that week. 

After you register, please use this link to add your roster! 

Resources

CoderZ

• CoderZ in partnership with Amazon Future Engineers is offering a free 6 month CoderZ license for schools that qualify as Title I. Each teacher that signs up at this landing page >> https://bit.ly/2EwFq8H will receive up to 150 student licenses with a CoderZ curricula of their choice.

• CoderZ in partnership with Amazon Future Engineers has created the Amazon Cyber Robotics Challenge! This free 3 hour activity that brings students into a simulated Amazon Fulfillment center coding for a virtual Hercules robot.

• Sign up: https://gocoderz.com/amazon-cyber-robotics-challenge/

• Promotional Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RbJ-OFw4JQ

•   After completion of the activity the teacher may schedule a virtual tour at their local Amazon Fulfillment center >> https://amazonfctours.com/virtualtours

Discovery Education

Virtual Connections through Range Resources

2022 PGH Fab Institute