Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Agency says special education will get elevated leadership and statewide training after implementation gaps
Summary
The Secretary told legislators the agency is elevating special education leadership, creating a special-education finance director role, and launching statewide training cohorts to address monitoring, data and training gaps identified after Act 173 implementation and federal review.
The Secretary of Education told the House Education Committee that special education is being elevated inside the Agency of Education and that the agency will pursue statewide training and monitoring tools to address implementation gaps.
The agency elevated special education to a state director position on the Secretary's extended cabinet and created a deputy chief of academics post to provide additional leadership and oversight. "We have elevated the focus on special education," the Secretary said, adding that the agency created a special education finance director position within the finance team to better oversee IDEA grants.
Why it matters: committee members have raised implementation concerns about Act 173 and earlier reform efforts. The Secretary acknowledged the agency did not previously have the monitoring tools, consistent data or training necessary for full implementation and said the special education steering committee asked for national expertise and statewide training cohorts.
Planned response: the agency will include the implementation effort as one of its 'accelerated initiatives' and intends to develop statewide training, monitoring tools that go into classrooms (teacher observations and classroom support tools), and consistent data systems to measure effectiveness. "We're looking to bring in resources that is a statewide training and support around these evidence-based practices," the Secretary said.
Committee follow-up and context: the Secretary described this as a learning-and-implementation phase and said steering committees will help define measurable targets. She tied the need for stronger monitoring and training to federal monitoring findings and to previous implementation disruptions, including COVID-related interruptions.
Next procedural step: the agency plans to pilot cohorts and produce implementation guidance and monitoring tools; committee members requested additional detail and said they want follow-up briefings from program leads.
