Curriculum Updates

Please see the new extensions and deadlines for comprehensive planning:

• Phase 1 - Due March 30, 2023 (New due date)
• Phase 2 - Due August 30, 2022 (New extension granted by PDE)
• Phase 3 - Due August 30, 2022 (New Extension granted by PDE)

Comprehensive Planning Updates PAIUCC November

Career Ready PA Upcoming Webinars

Career Ready PA is hosting monthly webinars on various topics at no charge. Please see our Eventbrite page for the list of programs and registration. Upcoming webinars include:

• Introduction to Apprenticeships and Pre-Apprenticeships – November 2 at 2:45pm

2022 Environmental Education Grants Program

EE Grant Program priorities are Water, Climate Change and Environmental Justice. Environmental Education projects with a local focus may receive up to $3,000, and regional and/or statewide initiatives may receive up to $20,000. Projects that widely engage students and teachers within environmental justice areas at the local, state, and national levels may be awarded up to $85,000.

More information, including the 2022 EE Grants Program Manual, a Grant Program webinar recording, and detailed application instructions is available at Environmental Education Grants.

Pennsylvania College of Technology Pre-apprenticeships and Apprenticeships

Pennsylvania College of Technology offers pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships in advanced manufacturing to help train the future workforce.

The Advanced Manufacturing Pre-Apprenticeship (AMP) is specifically developed to introduce high school students to the field of manufacturing. The program provides not only career exploration for the various types of manufacturing but also training in the foundational knowledge and skills to enter the workforce.

While the core learning for the program occurs online, we schedule in-person, hands-on lab days to reinforce the program content. Plus the program prepares students to take the certification exam for the Certified Manufacturing Associate sponsored by the Society for Manufacturing Engineers.

We are currently enrolling high school juniors and seniors for the next cohort of AMP Pre-Apprentices to be launched in January 2022. We offer the AMP program statewide and build regional consortiums to facilitate group lab days.

Please click here to learn more information about the program.

ACT 13: No growth measure until 2024 because there needs to be three consecutive years of growth scores.

Building level data will be available next fall for the current school year.

PVAAS 1 on 1 Consultations

The PVAAS statewide team is continuing to offer 1 on 1 consulting sessions (most about 1 hour). So far 75+ districts have participated and they have received great feedback. The email address to schedule a consultation is: pdepvaas@iu13.org

PVAAS has made updates to District Search, School Search, and Scatterplots.

This is a change to the reporting display.

Coming Soon - PVAAS Data Powershots!

Twelve short videos (5-8 minutes) on popular topics will be released over the next few months.

Link to Powershots - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNbwFhDzHFEXMLEZAFS9mzV2MXarEaEpc

To assist LEAs with Act 158 implementation (beginning with the class of 2023), PDE is offering trainings during the months of Sept., Nov., & Dec. Prior to participating in office hours, please review the Act 158 Toolkit and associated resources on the SAS website. Click on this link for more information on training dates/times. Training topics include:

• Act 158 Overview
• Resources
• Implementation
• Tracking and Reporting

Here is a link to access all of the recorded sessions. Office hours are offered in November and December, and in these office hours specific student scenarios will be reviewed and discussed in depth. Here is a list of other topics and a format for how the office hours will operate.

The survey is housed in the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal system and is available on November 15, with a reporting deadline of January 7, 2022.

Here is a link to a reporting guide for Act 35.

This year's SAS Institute, Focusing Forward: Creating Innovative Educational Pathways, scheduled for December 6-8, 2021, at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center (virtual option also available) will center around five major strands designed to transform learning:

1. Pathways to Quality Instruction
2. Pathways to a Healthy Learning Environment
3. Pathways to Prepare for the Future
4. Pathways to Continuous School Improvement
5. Pathways for Accelerating Learning

Each day will begin with a dynamic keynote speaker, followed by breakout sessions presented primarily by PA educators and PA Department of Education staff.

PBS Learning Media is home to television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films called POV or Point of View. These films are generally geared to students in 9th-12th grade but a few can be shared with middle school students. The POV and lesson plans are a great way to address contemporary social issues. The website for these free resources can be found here.

Another great resource from PBS is the career connections site. These videos are for students grades 3rd-12th and show behind the scenes of various careers and tell how to prepare for those types of jobs.

Remake Learning Days is a festival of events hosted by a variety of organizations, such as schools, museums, libraries, after school organizations, early child care centers and more.

These events are typically designed to be hands-on and engaging educational experiences for children of all ages (pre-K through high school) and their families, caregivers and educators. The majority of events are free and open to anyone. Last year most events were held virtually due to Covid restrictions.

Pennsylvania hosts its own set of regional events.

Southwestern PA and Northwestern PA regions are where participants from our area typically participate but families, caregivers and students can participate in any event from across the United States.

Additional information will be coming out in the next few months to determine if any teachers are interested in hosting a virtual event or if a school is interested in hosting a Remake Learning Day event.

The Chuckie F. Mahoney Memorial Foundation, formed by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mahoney III and family, was established in 2002 as a scholarship foundation in honor of Chuckie F. Mahoney IV, who died from suicide in February of 2002. The mission of the memorial foundation is to communicate that with proper training and education on suicide prevention, and by telling Chuckie’s story, lives can be saved. The Chuckie F. Mahoney Memorial Foundation strives to provide support and give to organizations that promote and advocate for mental health issues and suicide prevention. The National Alliance for Mental Illness and the American Association for Suicide Prevention are among these organizations.

This grant application is to be used to purchase mental health and/or suicide prevention educational materials and/or certified trainings, and/or related speakers to mental health and/or suicide prevention for the school year 2022-23.

The foundation will be offering up to seven $3,000 grants to school districts within the Western PA region. Applications will be accepted by April 1, 2022. Awards will be announced by May 1, 2022. Please return completed application to the address listed at the end of the document.

ARIN IU is hosting a training session regarding the ACT WorkKeys Assessment and National Career Readiness Certificate. Rick Harris, from ACT, will engage learners in a three hour session of information and hands-on exploration of the ACT WorkKeys assessment. Participants will learn about the three WorkKeys assessments that award the National Career Readiness Certificate, which are the Applied Math, Graphic Literacy, and Workplace Documents assessments. Click here for an agenda of this session.

The date for this session is Thursday, December 16th:

• Session #1: 8:00am-11:00am
• Session #2: 12:00pm-3:00pm

Lunch will be provided at 11:00am. If you attend the first session, you can stay for lunch, and if you attend the second session, you can come early for lunch. The cost of this session is $40 to help cover the expense of the trainer. Please click here to register and access more information!

Link to the recording:

Topic: SAS and Assessment Builder Over view with Kevin Mauro

Start Time: Nov 16, 2021 12:47 PM

Meeting Recording:

https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/MxcInNFzCbymm2rOn2CthNNM270SnRGymFHm91JV21BHulm922cLq12ujfF44uy5.HZ6dVQgxwHTKEU2_

Access Passcode: my3^#9^X

Join us to learn about the updates PDE has made to The Standards Aligned System (SAS) portal. The SAS Portal, developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, is a comprehensive, researched-based resource to improve student achievement. In this session we will explore:

• PD Center - Educator Effectiveness Act 48 Courses Have Been Updated To Reflect Act 13

• Assessment Center - Improvements Made to Build Customized Assessments Aligned to the Standards

• Instructional Resources - Instructional Resources That Will Be Explored:

• PA Equity Inclusion Toolkit

• Educator Effectiveness

• Online Resources for Instruction

• PA Learns

• And more!

If you do not have an account, please create an account at http://www.pdesas.org before the virtual session on November 16th.

Click here to access the flyer for this session, which includes the connection link!

Our curriculum department created this choice board of Accelerated Learning topics for you to use FREE in your schools if you'd like. Each topic consists of 2 hours of professional learning for teachers and/or principals.

*This choice board meets all Accelerated Learning topics

The Achievement Mindset

When we think about reaching and teaching students in poverty, what are the greatest factors in their success? Where does individual teacher expectations of their students' success fall in the ranking of factors? Through this four hour training, teachers will assess their understanding of how poverty impacts student learning and learn how to set gutsy goals for ALL of the students in their classroom. Participants will also learn key strategies for how to set micro-goals for their students and how to ultimately help students self-manage these goals on the path to reaching high expectations.

Google Training: Google Basics and Bootcamp

Google Basics Part One

Part 1 of this bootcamp teaches participants the basics of using Google Drive, Docs, Slides, and Forms. Participants will listen to instructional videos, complete a skills challenge for each Google Application, and also reflect on each skills challenge. By the end of part 1, participants will have a Google Doc, Google Slide, and Google Form ready to use in their classroom. This section of the bootcamp takes a full day to complete, or seven hours.

Google Basics Part Two

In Part 2, you will learn how to operate the tools and features in Google Sheets to create spreadsheets, sort and analyze data collection, and consider how to use this application in your classroom. Learners will also create a Google Site and navigate the features in a Site. The Gmail/Calendar portion of the learning experience will expose participants to organizational features in these applications to enhance workflow and collaboration. An introduction to Google Meet and some practical suggestions for successful synchronous lessons and meetings are included in this training, followed and concluded by a useful section on creating channels, playlists, and using YouTube in a classroom. This section of the bootcamp takes a full day to complete, or seven hours.

Google Classroom

Part 3 of this bootcamp concludes with learning on Google Classroom and how to set up a classroom, create and assign interactive assignments, differentiate assignments, and more. This section of the bootcamp takes a half day to complete, or four hours total.

*Accelerated Learning Categories: Equitable Practices, Class-Wide Supports, SEL

ARIN IU 28 is offering a line up of leveled TDA support based on your teachers' experiences with instructing text dependent analysis. We have two new sessions to offer veteran teachers this year as well in this area. Click here for more information.

* Accelerated Learning Categories: Instruction, Formative Assessment, Equitable Practices, Analyze Assessments, Scaffolded Supports

IU28 is offering a series for math teachers on building number fluency, word problems, and many other topics to support ALL math learners in the classroom. Click here for more information.

*Accelerated Learning Categories: Instruction, Formative Assessment, Scaffolded Supports

STEAM Lending Library

The STEAM Lending Library will be ready to take reservations for classroom items beginning September 7, 2021. Please visit the Lending Library site at https://ariniu28.myturn.com/library/ to view items and make a reservation.

Please check out this SMORE for the other sessions offered this fall, including:

• Engineering Session
• SCRIPT Training
• STEAM Lending Library Review
• Raspberry Pi Training

*Accelerated Learning Categories: Instruction, Academics, Equitable Practices

In-Person Offerings:

August 25-26, 2021

December 16-17, 2021

Virtual Offerings:

October 1-15, 2021

January 17-31, 2022

Click here for more information!

• Curriculum Council (for dates click here)
• School Principals
• PIIC
• Technology/STEM Integrators
• School Counselors Council (NEW)
• Gifted Network (NEW)
• PA Science Leadership Network (application based--group already established)

*Accelerated Learning Categories: Instruction, Academics, Equitable Practices

Our TaC team offers training and consultation in a variety of special education initiatives. Please click this link to meet the team and learn about what they can specifically offer your district. TaC is funded through a separate funding stream (IDEA) from our curriculum services department, so their support is completely free to your district.

Coming soon: We are working on a combined Curriculum Department and TaC Launch Form that will help us streamline district requests for our support. You will soon find this link on our website under the "Registration" tab.

• SEL Series
• Youth Mental Health First Aid
• CoTeaching
• Literacy Plan Development Consultation
• Understanding and Using Your Data Series