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The Pennsylvania Department of Education's (PDE's) Office for Safe Schools partnered with REL Mid-Atlantic to conduct a study using data from PDE's school climate survey. This survey, which is available on a voluntary basis to any school in the state, provides a way to track school climate and identify schools that need additional support to improve school climate. The REL study analyzed changes in scores from a pre-pandemic year (2018/19) to the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years, both of which were affected by COVID-19 and related policy changes. In a sample of Pennsylvania public schools that took the survey consistently across multiple years, students and teachers reported more positive perceptions of school climate in the 2020/21 school year, during hybrid and remote learning, compared to 2018/19 and 2021/22. This was an unexpected positive bump in the year in which schools experienced the most pandemic-related disruption. In contrast, school climate scores were steady across the years before COVID-19. The study also found no evidence of a significant decline in school climate scores between 2018/19 and 2021/22, suggesting the pandemic did not have a lasting negative effect on school climate in this sample of schools. One important caveat of this study is that the sample of schools was small and not representative of the rest of the state of Pennsylvania. The study also examined the relationship between school climate scores in 2021/22 and the amount of virtual and hybrid instruction used during 2020/21 and found no association. However, this analysis was limited by the small sample size and could only rule out a large association; a small or moderate association is still possible. [For the appendixes, see ED629791.]

These are the appendixes for the full report, "Changes in School Climate during COVID-19 in a Sample of Pennsylvania Schools." The REL study analyzed changes in scores from a pre-pandemic year (2018/19) to the 2020/21 and 2021/22 school years, both of which were affected by COVID-19 and related policy changes. These technical appendixes are meant to supplement the slideshow to provide extended detail on the methods and analyses used to answer the study's research questions. Appendixes: (1) Data and methods; (2) Supporting analysis; and (3) Nonresponsive bias analysis. [For the full report, see ED629789.]

"The State of Working Pennsylvania 2022" centered on the continued recovery from the COVID-19 recession, highlighting that Pennsylvania was at a policy crossroads: would political leaders embrace policies to strengthen the individual and collective worker power evident a year ago? Or would austerity and anti-worker policies after the 2022 elections undercut the possibility of a more sustained period of shared prosperity, a "New Deal for a New Economy?" In the past year, policymakers have not made a decisive choice between these two policy options. In part because the 2022 elections led to divided government. Executive authority at both the federal and state level remains in the hands of policymakers supportive of workers and labor unions, which makes possible small steps to enhance workers' power. But divided legislative branches rule out big changes in state and federal laws. On the upside, there have not yet been a reversal of the 2021-22 federal investments in climate, infrastructure, and innovation now sustaining a strong economy. On the downside, a federal or state minimum wage increase has not yet passed and there is zero chance of enacting a major pro-worker labor law reform (i.e., Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act) federally before 2025. In this context of divided government and a President and Governor generally supportive of workers, a Pennsylvania job market favorable to workers has been sustained and stabilized, the latter in part because inflation--as expected--has quickly fallen to around 3%. Some readers may see the policy recommendations in this report as too ambitious and far-reaching. The authors disagree--they are only as forceful and creative as required to bring an end to nearly a half century of rising inequality. If readers agree that there is need to restore shared prosperity and share the authors' view that doing so would lay the foundation for social unity and a team effort to address climate change, then readers should embrace these policy recommendations as the best way to achieve these vital goals. [For the 2022 report, see ED624091.]

There are nearly 1 million credentials in the United States that students and workers can take advantage of, but how information about these credentials is collected and communicated is oftentimes inconsistent and hard to access. In February, we invited a group of postsecondary and workforce development experts to consider how policymakers can leverage credential transparency to further state workforce and attainment goals. Inspired by those conversations, this Policy Brief highlights data capacity, governance and funding as key policy areas and provides considerations that states, systems and practitioners can use to develop credential transparency. [This brief was produced with Credential Engine.]

Meeting students' basic food and nutrition requirements is an essential role of public schools and critical to student learning. Yet as with other support services in schools -- such as transportation and janitorial services -- school boards or school administrators who are worried about the bottom line may turn to outside companies to manage or replace in-house district school food programs. In 2004, about 70% of Pennsylvania school districts self-operated their food service programs. But by 2019, that number dropped to 47%, as more districts chose management companies to run their school food programs. This report relies on a mix of rigorous statistical analysis and interview-based qualitative research and finds that contracting out food services -- their management or the entire operation -- does not yield the financial benefits school districts are promised by contractors.

Trellis' Student Financial Wellness Survey (SFWS) seeks to document the financial well-being of post-secondary students and provide institutions with a detailed profile of the financial issues their students face, some of which could potentially impact their success in college. This report details aggregated findings for the 89 colleges and universities across the country that participated in the fall 2022 implementation of the survey. [For "Student Financial Wellness Survey: Fall 2021 Semester Results. National Aggregate Report," see ED625724.]

The COVID-19 virus brought on a public health emergency that massively disrupted school systems and learning nationwide. During the 2020-2021 school year, many local education agencies (LEAs) in Pennsylvania and other states adopted remote learning to help slow the virus's spread. However, remote learning came with challenges for students, families, and LEAs. These challenges included very practical ones like not having a reliable internet connection or the correct link to log into classes, as well as fatigue from so many remote meetings and feelings of social isolation. This brief examines remote learning in Pennsylvania and its role in shaping education outcomes and COVID-19 case rates in local communities during the 2020-2021 school year. Key findings for the 2020-2021 school year: (1) Vulnerable groups of students were more likely than students overall to attend LEAs where the predominant instructional modes included remote learning; (2) The same groups of students were also more likely to be in LEAs where larger shares of the student population had trouble accessing reliable internet; (3) More remote learning was associated with lower assessment performance in grades 5-8, especially in schools with higher levels of economic disadvantage. It was also associated with lower suspension rates in grades 6-12 and did not appear to harm or help graduation rates; and (4) Remote learning in high school was associated with lower subsequent COVID-19 rates within an LEA's boundary, suggesting it had an important public health benefit. [Contributions from Candy Miller, Rhonda Johnson, and Rosemary Riccardo.]

Prior to the pandemic, a survey of Pennsylvania parents found that for every child that was enrolled in an afterschool program, four more would participate if more programs were available. The pandemic has only emphasized the need for out-of-school time (OST) programs as students across Pennsylvania and the country cope with learning loss and increased social and emotional needs in the wake of the crisis. Despite the need for more programming, the only ongoing dedicated public source of funding for OST that is available statewide in Pennsylvania is the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21stCCLC) program. This brief examines Pennsylvania's growing need for dedicated state funding to supplement the federal 21stCCLC grants, summarizes research evidence of the value of OST programming, identifies existing quality standards available to guide investments to high quality OST programs, and reviews how other states provide supplemental funding to OST that could serve as models to Pennsylvania.

In this paper the author compares the impact of two proposals: one in the Shapiro administration's budget plan and one by the PA Schools Work (PASW) campaign for a down payment on fair and full funding of K-12 schools regarding how far they go in reducing the state's inequitable and inadequate school funding for school districts on the basis of class, race, and Hispanic ethnicity. The author shows that the PASW proposal, by spending more money and distributing some of that money through the Level Up program, takes a larger step forward in pursuit of the goal of giving every child the "thorough and efficient" public education required not only by basic notions of fairness and equity but by the Pennsylvania Constitution.

State postsecondary education data systems are vital assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association's (SHEEO) Communities of Practice project builds upon SHEEO's efforts to measure the capacity and effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides states with opportunities to develop solutions to common system issues. The seventh Community of Practice convening, "Improving Equity and Opportunity through Postsecondary Data," was held September 28-29, 2022, in Denver, Colorado. The two-day meeting included more than 80 representatives from 17 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai'i, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and the District of Columbia. Teams included representatives from SHEEO agency academic affairs, workforce, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and research and data offices and their partners at state agencies and two- and four-year postsecondary institutions. Given the recent impacts on higher education from the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice unrest, and economic pressures facing the country, a focus on equity and opportunity was timely for this Community of Practice. SHEEO agency staff communicated a need to inform state attainment and economic goals through improved collection and use of postsecondary student unit record data. Within and across state teams, Community of Practice attendees were able to learn more about the nuances and impacts of equity-and opportunity-focused data collection, disaggregation, and visualization; to better understand how to effectively communicate and illustrate the need for and the contributions of equitable student success in their states; and to reflect on their capacity, partnerships, and resources available to effectively engage in this work. In this paper, SHEEO shares the presentations, resources, and team activities from the convening. This information can be used by SHEEO agencies to reflect on their current practices, plan and develop effective data policies, and better use data to improve postsecondary equity and opportunity outcomes in their states.

Postsecondary education is associated with achieving economic self-sufficiency and other positive outcomes. Young people in foster care face challenges pursuing postsecondary education, which can lead to them being less likely than their peers to enroll in college and less likely to earn a degree when enrolled. One federal initiative meant to address this issue is the Chafee Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program. The ETV program was created through a 2001 Congressional amendment to the 1999 John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Act. This report highlights the experiences of young people who have experienced foster care and received ETVs to help fund their postsecondary education. Eighty-one young people in nine states were interviewed. [This report builds on work originally funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation.]

State Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS) can effectively support the improvement of school-age childcare programs by leveraging Program Quality Assessments (PQAs) alongside structured improvement planning and professional development. Real-world implementations in Arkansas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania underscore the impact and adaptability of the PQA within QRIS, emphasizing its role in fostering a culture of improvement and the importance of investing in well-trained staff to ensure positive outcomes for school-age children.

The "Stabilizing Subgroup Proficiency Results to Improve the Identification of Low-Performing Schools" study used Bayesian stabilization to improve the reliability (long-term stability) of subgroup proficiency measures that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) uses to identify schools for Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) or Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI). The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to designate schools with low-performing student subgroups for TSI or ATSI. This document presents the following appendixes that accompany the study: (1) Literature review; (2) Data and methods; and (3) Supplemental Results. [For the full report, see ED626539. For the Study Snapshot, see ED626540.]

The Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to identify schools with low-performing student subgroups for Targeted Support and Improvement or Additional Targeted Support and Improvement. Random differences between students' true abilities and their test scores, also called measurement error, reduce the statistical reliability of the performance measures used to identify schools for these categorizations. Measurement error introduces a risk that the identified schools are unlucky rather than truly low performing. Using data provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the study team used Bayesian hierarchical modeling to improve the reliability of subgroup proficiency measures and demonstrate the approach's efficacy. [For the Study Snapshot, see ED626540. For the appendixes, see ED626541.]

"AASA Learning 2025: Student-Centered, Equity-Focused, Future-Driven Education" is a movement that calls for a holistic redesign of the public school system by 2025. This initiative is grounded in the foundational work of the AASA Learning 2025 National Commission, comprised of thought leaders in education, business, community, and philanthropy. The work of AASA Learning 2025 is guided by the commission's report, "An American Imperative: A New Vision of Public Schools" (ED613412). To demonstrate the power and effectiveness of participating AASA Learning 2025 school districts, AASA is sharing with members of the educational community case studies showcasing exemplary school systems that are a part of this network. This case study provides details about an exceptional Lighthouse District in South Fayette Township, Pennsylvania. In 2022, this district developed a strategic plan that emphasizes the need to be "future-focused, student-centered, and innovation-driven." With the support and vision of the Grable Foundation, South Fayette Township School District is a leader in the region in which it is located.

The SEL Innovations series aims to help the field imagine new, more expansive and equitable approaches to SEL and wellness to ensure that all children, adolescents, and adults feel safe, supported, and seen so that they can thrive. This report focuses on the conditions and guiding actions to foster authentic school-family partnerships. Research confirms that school-family partnerships are crucial. While much attention has been given to the core competencies, our new innovations series digs deeper into the "rings" of CASEL's SEL Framework where young people live and learn, beginning with school-family partnerships. The report offers case studies illustrating four guiding actions in practice, featuring Communities in Schools of Michigan, The Allegheny County Family Center Network's Parent Advisory Council, Village of Wisdom, and Minneapolis Public Schools Parent Participatory Evaluation Initiative. The report includes these guiding actions for school staff: (1) Begin with family priorities, interests, concerns, knowledge, and resources to create opportunities for building trust and genuine relationships; (2) Transform power dynamics by increasing the capacity of both families and staff around knowledge and confidence; (3) Build reciprocity and agency between school staff and families by setting up systems and structures that foster a sense of camaraderie and collaboration; and (4) Undertake change as collective inquiry together using the relationships that are built as a way to collaboratively problem-solve.

Pennsylvania has a fragmented, underfunded high school career-related education system. This undercuts success in college and careers for hundreds of thousands of students annually, while exacerbating skill shortages for businesses and throttling Pennsylvania's economy. Pennsylvania also has a legislature that supports career-related education on a bicameral, bipartisan basis, a governor that wants to "drastically increase" CTE, and a body of experience with industry-led workforce intermediaries beyond most states. Through strategic and integrated investment and system-building in career-related education in K-12 public education, Pennsylvania can leapfrog other states, expand the horizons and futures of Pennsylvania students, and enable businesses to thrive. It's time for Pennsylvania's new legislature and new governor to get started. [This report was produced in partnership with Children First and the PA Schools Work campaign.]

Exploring Summer Youth Employment Programs: Increasing Access Through Career Pathways builds the case and provides actionable recommendations for state-led support in the intentional alignment of summer youth employment programs (SYEP) with career pathways and the work-based learning continuum, including through Career Technical Education (CTE). This tool was produced through JPMorgan Chase's "New Skills ready network," a five year, $35 million initiative aimed at developing equitable career pathways and policy recommendations that give underserved students access to higher education and real-world work experiences that lead to high-wage, in-demand jobs.

Located in southwestern Pennsylvania near the borders of Maryland and West Virginia, the district has 1,483 students, with 21% minority enrollment. The district and its students have experienced many of the problems related to the opioid epidemic, including many students being raised by grandparents due to parental drug use. The district has three schools--elementary, middle and high school--as well as a cyber school that offers virtual learning for students K-12. This profile highlights the school district's restorative policies and practices including: (1) Catalyst for Change; (2) Police Department; (3) Police involved Youth; (4) COVID; (5) Sustainability; and (6) Disproportionality. [This profile was prepared with Brownsville Area School District. For the summary report, see ED628985.]

This document summarizes the five schools districts profiled during the 2021-2022 school year that are building walls between schools and the justice system, engaging in restorative policies and practices, working to eliminate bias and disproportionality, and providing all children with fair and equitable access to high-quality opportunities. The districts profiled were Aldine Independent School District, Houston, Texas (ED628988); Brownsville Area School District, Pennsylvania (ED628991); St. Louis Public Schools, Missouri (ED628986); Phoenix Union High School District, Arizona (ED628990); and Riverhead Central School District, New York (ED628989). These school districts have worked intentionally to reduce school-related juvenile justice interactions where the superintendent and school system played a key role in changes to limit youth interaction with law enforcement, school-based arrests and juvenile justice. [This report was prepared with Aldine Independent School District, Brownsville Area School District, St. Louis Public Schools, and Riverhead Central School District.]

"Excelencia in Education" brings to a national audience evidence-based practices situated at higher education institutions and community-based organizations across the country that are intentionally serving Latino students. The 2023 "Examples of Excelencia: What Works for Latino Students in Higher Education" selection committee recognized 19 Finalists programs who shared narratives about their work that focused on student empowerment; addressed financial barriers; created pathways to colleges and closed educational opportunity gaps. The programs are based across four levels: Associate, Baccalaureate, Graduate, and Community-Based Organizations of which four are chosen as examples that demonstrate an exemplary way of servicing their Latino students in an asset-based, culturally responsive way. These programs model what other institutions and organizations can implement in their own communities. [Funding was provided by Wells Fargo, Lumina Foundation, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase & Co. Additional funding was provided by Ad Astra, Precision Task Group (PTG), Arizona State University (ASU), ACT: Center for Equity in Learning, Helios Education Foundation, Lone Star College (Texas), Ascendium, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Texas A&M University (Kingsville), Maricopa Community Colleges (Arizona), Trellis Foundation. For the 2022 report, see ED624384.]

Each year, NASSGAP completes a survey regarding state-funded expenditures for postsecondary student financial aid. This report provides data regarding state-funded expenditures for student financial aid and illustrates the extent of efforts made by the states to assist postsecondary students. Information in this report is based on academic year 2021-22 data from the 53rd Annual NASSGAP survey. Data Highlights include: (1) In the 2021-22 academic year, the states awarded almost $14.9 billion in total state funded student financial aid, a slight increase about 1.0 percent in nominal terms and a decrease of about 6.4 percent in constant dollar terms from the $14.8 billion in aid awarded in 2020-21; (2) The majority of state aid (87 percent) remains in the form of grants. In 2021-22, about 4.1 million grant awards were made representing about 13.0 billion in need and nonneed-based grant aid. This represents an increase of about 0.8 percent from the $12.9 billion in grants awarded in 2020-21. Of the grant money awarded in 2021-22, about 73 percent was need-based and about 27 percent was nonneed-based, a breakout consistent with historical data; (3) Funding for undergraduate need-based grant aid decreased slightly nationwide from $9.4 billion in 2020-21 to about $9.5 billion in 2021-22, a change of about 1.6 percent in nominal terms; (4) Eight states (California, Texas, New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania) collectively again awarded about 6.4 billion in undergraduate need-based grant aid, accounting for about 68.7 percent of all aid of this type; and (5) States provided about $1.9 billion in nongrant student aid, including loans, loan assumptions, conditional grants, work-study, and tuition waivers. Tuition waivers represented about 48 percent of nongrant aid.

The recent turn toward core practices and practice-based teacher education has been accompanied by a growing literature on the definitions, pedagogies to teach, and assessments of core practices. Despite these developments, the field lacks core practices performance assessments designed to be used across course sections, courses, and subjects. This paper provides an existence proof of this type of assessment and investigates the affordances and constraints of the approach. The study describes three types of mixed-reality simulation-based performance tasks of three core practices. More than 400 novices in 64 teacher preparation programs in the United States reported that they were able to use the simulation environment and believed the tasks measure important teaching skills. Scores on the tasks were positively related to novices' prior academic and teacher education experiences. Implications for the formative use of such simulations are discussed.

The COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the possibility of increased staff attrition from the public school sector, as it did for other occupations during the Great Resignation that followed the pandemic's onset. Recruiting and retaining education staff were pressing challenges even before the pandemic began. Since March 2020, education staff have needed to adapt to new job expectations and risk exposure to an unknown virus. These factors might have contributed to staff leaving public education jobs due to mental and physical health concerns and other issues. This research brief describes staff attrition during the pandemic from Pennsylvania local education agencies (LEAs). The brief describes annual rates of staff leaving the statewide public school sector from several jobs--including teachers, health and counseling staff, school administrators, and LEA administrators--and how changes in attrition during the pandemic varied with staff, school, and LEA characteristics. Key findings for teachers, health and counseling staff, and administrators include: (1) five percent of staff working in Pennsylvania local education agencies (LEAs) in fall 2020 left the statewide public school sector by fall 2021, an increase from 4 percent attrition in preceding years; (2) pre-pandemic attrition rates for staff of color were generally higher than for non-Hispanic White staff, and these differences grew during the pandemic except for school administrators, where they narrowed; and (3) gaps in attrition rates were also exacerbated during the pandemic for teachers and health and counseling staff early in their careers and in charter schools and for LEA administrators in large LEAs. [This brief includes contributions from Candy Miller, Rhonda Johnson, and Rosemary Riccardo.]

The disruptions to schooling created by the COVID-19 pandemic prompted nationwide concern about negative impacts on academic proficiency, particularly for vulnerable student populations. Pennsylvania's 2021 statewide assessments offered the first opportunity since the pandemic began to assess how students across the Commonwealth were faring, whether achievement gaps had widened, and how remote learning affected student performance. As in other states, the raw assessment data did not tell the full story of the pandemic's impacts on academic proficiency. Fewer Pennsylvania students participated in the 2021 assessments than in prior years, and test takers were not a representative sample of all students. In addition, test administration dates varied widely across the state in 2021, with some local education agencies (LEAs) postponing the usual spring assessments to the fall. Using a predictive model that accounts for the unique assessment issues in 2021 and the instructional modes that Pennsylvania LEAs offered, this research brief provides a fuller picture of the pandemic's impacts on academic proficiency in grades 5 through 8. Key findings for Pennsylvania students in grades 5 through 8 include: (1) students in vulnerable groups and in fully remote learning had lower assessment participation rates than other students in 2021; (2) the pandemic led to a substantial reduction in academic proficiency statewide in 2021, reducing academic achievement even more than the results for tested students indicated (3) the pandemic had consistently large negative academic effects across student groups, including for vulnerable groups that had low rates of proficiency before the pandemic; and (4) LEAs that were fully remote after winter break saw lower proficiency rates in 2021, compared with LEAs that offered fully in-person learning to similar students. [This brief includes contributions from Candy Miller, Rhonda Johnson, and Rosemary Riccardo.]

This brief presents findings describing how Pennsylvania compares to other states in providing its students with access to educational opportunity. Following a more detailed discussion of the indicators used to define educational opportunity, Pennsylvania's rankings on overall access are first examined and then how Pennsylvania compares to other states on gaps in access to educational opportunity between (1) White and Black students, (2) White and Hispanic students, and (3) students eligible for free/reduced price lunch (FRPL) and students who are not eligible (non-FRPL). Finally, the report discusses how racial gaps in access to education vary when separately examining subsets of schools characterized as having high-, medium-, or low-concentrations of student poverty.

The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on preschool children's school readiness skills remains understudied. This research investigates Head Start preschool children's early numeracy, literacy, and executive function outcomes during a pandemic-affected school year, using a novel virtual assessment methodology. Study children (N = 336; mean age = 51 months; 46% Hispanic; 36% Black Non-Hispanic; 52% female) in a network of Head Start centers in four states (Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin) experienced low in-person preschool exposure compared to national pre-pandemic norms. However, study children experienced fall to spring score gains during the pandemic-affected year of 0.05 SD in executive function, 0.27 SD in print knowledge, and 0.45-0.71 SD in early numeracy skills, growth not outside the general range of that observed in pre-pandemic research studies. For two of the three early numeracy domains measured, spring test score outcomes were stronger among children who attended more in-person preschool. We discuss implications for future research and policy.