Highlights of remarks offered by Dr. Carolyn Dumaresq, Acting Secretary of Education:

The PDE staff has been concentrating on getting their budget information together for the Governor’s upcoming new budget. Education is one of the first areas to go before the Appropriations Committee, so it is crucial to have the numbers and information ready to go.

Chapter 4 information–

• Currently working on costing out projections for supplemental services related to the implementation of the Keystone Exams.

• New School Performance Profile (SPP) data has been uploaded and schools are now researching ways to improve their profiles and opportunities for the students.
• There have been over 200,000 visits to the SPP site with the majority of those visits (35%) being from parents.
• Starting on Friday, PDE will begin to honor those schools that attained a SPP of 90% or better with a banner and an announcement. Some 428     

            buildings will receive recognition during this first round of SPP.

• About 91 schools have been identified as Priority Schools as a result of their SPP score. Academic Recovery Liaisons will begin to work with these schools.

Teacher and Principal Evaluation–

• The first round of teacher evaluations are being completed for the temporary professional individuals in the districts. Resources have been provided to assist with the completion of the evaluation forms.
• The principal and specialists evaluation regulations are expected in the very near future as the pilot continues for principal evaluation.

PDE received its third federal grant to the tune of about $52 million for early learning. PDE will be working on providing training and resources to have quality early learning programs across the state.