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Attract Prepare & Retain

Attract, Prepare, and Retain (APR) is a priority of Pennsylvania's Bureau of Special Education (BSE) with a primary focus that is three-fold:

  • To attract skilled, compassionate, and diverse individuals to the varied career options within the field of special education,
  • To prepare special education personnel by building capacity through targeted professional development, technical assistance, and supports, and
  • To retain special education personnel long-term through the collective efforts of federal, state, and local entities.

View the 2024 Attract Prepare Retain Infographic
View the Considerations for Utilization of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Spending document

The Special Education Teacher Pipeline in Pennsylvania

The Bureau of Special Education is working with The National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research  (Calder) to measure the impact of Pennsylvania's efforts to attract, prepare, and retain special education personnel through focused projects and grants. 

These reports summarize findings from the long-term research project on the special education teacher pipeline in Pennsylvania and Attract-Prepare- Retain (APR) projects.

PA Student Teacher Support Program

If you, or someone you know, will be student teaching in the Fall of 2024 or Spring of 2025, apply now! 
The application is available on the PHEAA website.

  • $10,000 to student teachers who meet program requirements.
  • An additional $5,000 is available to student teachers working in high-need areas which attract few student teachers or have a high rate of open positions.

#PANeedsTeachers

Visit the #PANeedsTeachers Solution Playbook to learn of innovative strategies Pennsylvania schools, organizations, and agencies are using to attract, prepare, and retain teachers.

Teacher Shortage in PA

Want to learn more about the local impact of the teacher shortage? View the report by Ms. Laura Boyce, Teach Plus Pennsylvania and Dr. Ed Fuller, Penn State University.

Interested in Obtaining a Special Education Teaching Certification?

if you want to earn a bachelor's degree and obtain a special education teaching certification, review the specific steps for special educators on this guide.

Looking for Teachers?

Schools should consult with their solicitor concerning the specific legal requirements regarding hiring or employment issues related to the staffing solutions offered below. Contact Eli Downie at edownietel@pa.com for more information. 

Retired Teachers

  • A school may hire a PSERS retiree as a day-to-day substitute if no other appropriate certified teachers or other personnel are available within the required subject or work area. 
  • The school employer is expected to make a “good faith” effort to secure non-retired personnel first before hiring a PSERS retiree. 
  • Employment may continue throughout the school year so long as the emergency or shortage of personnel exists.
  • LEAs must receive pre-approval using the PSERS School Year Approval Process. (June 30, 2023) 
  • Visit Working after Retirement on the PSERS website for more information.​

Educators From Other States

The PA Department of Education (PDE) CAN issue a comparable certificate to a teacher from another state or U.S. territory if the educator: 

  • Has a valid and current instructional certificate issued by another state.
  • Has completed a college or university educator preparation program approved by the state that issued the certificate. 
  • Satisfied the testing requirements of the certifying state, demonstrating subject matter competency in the applicable area of Pennsylvania certification.  
  • Passed the related content tests required by the certifying state.
  • Has taught with the out-of-state certificate.
  • Presents to PDE evidence of satisfactory professional educator experience for the candidate’s two most recent years of classroom teaching .
  • Visit Out-of-State Educators on the PDE website for more information. 

Temporary Certificates for Substitute Teachers

  • A school can issue a temporary substitute teacher certificate for day-to-day substitute teaching to an individual who presents a letter from a college verifying that they have completed an approved teacher preparation program and has successfully completed the certification testing requirements or scheduled to take the tests and met all requirements for the earning of a bachelor's degree. 
  • For the 2022-2023 school year, this locally issued temporary certificate may be used for assignments of more than 20 consecutive days to fill a position due to the absence of professional certified personnel.

Paraprofessionals as Classroom Monitors

  • Until June 20, 2023, a school can request a classroom monitor permit from PDE for qualified individuals to deliver student assignments preplanned by a professional employee or temporary professional. 
  • Monitors may not plan or create lessons or grade work. 
  • Visit Classroom Monitor on the PDE website for more information.

Emergency Permits

Prospective Teachers as Substitutes

Special Education Personnel Shortages in Pennsylvania

Shortages for most certification areas are trending downwards. The Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of of Special Education is committed to offering short and long term strategies to support Local Education Agencies and effect these shortages. 
 

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An Introduction to Pennsylvania's Focus on Attract-Prepare-Retain

Make a Suggestion! Your Ideas Count

Do you have a suggestion, recommendation, or idea, to attract, prepare, or retain special education personnel? The Bureau of Special Education is interested in hearing from you.

Complete the comment form here.