PSEA is a community of education professionals who make a difference in the lives of students every day.
Keep up-to-date on all of the ways PSEA is prepared to meet your professional learning needs.
March is National Reading Month.
Did you know reading just 20 minutes a day means a child reads 2 million words a year?
A recent national survey of public school parents from Hart Research Associates and Lake Research Partners has yielded some very positive numbers. Check out the animation above to see what they are.
There’s a substitute teacher shortage in Pennsylvania’s public schools, and it’s making it harder for kids to learn. Our schools need substitute teachers. Badly.
In late 2021, Act 91 was passed into law allowing more Pennsylvanians to support educators, schools, and students as a day-to-day or long-term substitute teacher. And there are several different pathways to help you get started.
Learn more about how you can make a difference as a substitute teacher with the resources in our "Subs Wanted!" section of the site.
Elizabeth Raff of Penn Manor EA was named the Pennsylvania 2022 Teacher of the Year. Each year, the Pennsylvania Department of Education recognizes excellence in teaching by honoring a K-12 public education teacher who has made outstanding academic contributions to his or her students.
Elizabeth is a sixth grade English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at Pequea Elementary School in Lancaster County. Read what she has to say about her recognition in the March 2022 issue of The Voice.
There’s no better time than American Education Week to celebrate our hardworking ESP members. And none more deserving of recognition than Dee Scales, the 2021 Dolores McCracken PSEA Education Support Professional of the Year.
“I am honored to receive this recognition,” Scales said. “It means a lot because support professionals do a lot of work, not only within our schools but in our communities, as well. Many support professionals live in the communities where they work so they have a great rapport not just with students but with students’ families, too.”
Scales has worked as a paraprofessional in the Woodland Hills School District for the past 26 years, including working with students having special needs in life skills, learning support, and emotional support classrooms. She currently works with students in an emotional support classroom in the Dickson Preparatory STEAM Academy.
Colleagues praised Scales’ dedication and ability to draw out the very best in her students.
Dee on a recent episode of PA Newsmakers explaining the roles of paraprofessionals and support staff in schools.
Congratulations to Central Bucks School District member Julia Szarko for being named the 2021 School Psychologist of the Year at both the state and national levels. Throughout her 25-year career, Szarko has been a strong advocate for her students. She has worked tirelessly to meet students’ individual academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs and push for improvements across the school system. She’s even taken her advocacy work to Congress.
This week is typically when members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) head to Washington DC for “DC Hill Day,” a week of advocacy training and Hill meetings with lawmakers. This year it's being held virtually, but that hasn’t slowed down Szarko.
“I’ve been very focused on, for a long time, expanding access to school mental health services,” Szarko said. “Also we are facing a huge national shortage of school psychologists. So our big advocacy focus is remedying the shortages.”
Szarko has been working with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick to encourage passage of HR 4025, the Mental Health in Schools Excellence Program Act of 2019, which was reintroduced this year.
“That is a bill that would provide a funding stream for students going into school psychology and school mental health field,” Szarko said. “So it’s something where the federal government would match with the graduate institution’s direct funding towards tuition. We’re one of the states with the most school psychology programs,” she said. “So we could obtain a good number of students receiving funding through this bill if we can get it passed.”
