Distinguished Educator Initiative

The Distinguished Educator (DE) Initiative, established by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, provides direct assistance and targeted intervention to school districts as  part of the Pennsylvania Accountability System. Distinguished Educators work with struggling school districts and schools as part of a team to build capacity and provide support to improve students'  achievement.

DEs work with school districts to identify and overcome instructional or systemic barriers. Their role is flexible in order to meet the unique needs of different districts, schools and students. For example, in one school system the DEs may serve as a coach/mentor, while in another district they may offer more prescriptive solutions if the school is not showing adequate improvement in student achievement after a given amount of time. Additionally, DEs have a feedback function so practice can inform policy and regulations at the state level, which provides PDE with input in establishing policies that drive students' achievement.

DEs are comprised of current or retired administrators, teachers, specialists and consultants with a wide range of experience and expertise. More information about the Distinguished Educator Initiative can be found at the following link on the PDE website:
http://www.able.state.pa.us/pas/cwp/view.asp?a=3&Q=109084

Distinguished School Leader Initiative

The Distinguished School Leader (DSL) initiative parallels the Distinguished Educator (DE) program of assigning a DE team to work in a building that has not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The DSL initiative is specifically designed to work with the Individualized Education Program (IEP) subgroups within selected high schools for improved educational results, while the DE program is a school-wide support when the school did not make AYP. The 2007-2008 is the first school year of the DSL initiative, and focuses on the achievement of the AYP targets of performance in math and reading within the special education subgroup.

The DSL Initiative, established through the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Bureau of Special Education and the Bureau of Teaching and Learning Support, brings together school improvement teams from the Intermediate Units (IU) and the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) centers to provide strategies for improving students' achievement in selected high schools across the commonwealth. These high schools are earmarked for intensive interventions due to the schools' AYP status of Corrective Action II for the special education subgroup.  

The IU and PaTTAN DSL teams work collaboratively with school district administration and teachers to improve the academic achievement of the high school students with IEPs. Professional development and ongoing embedded instructional support provide teachers with strategies and interventions that ultimately maximize reading, writing and math performance.