Regulations

The State Board of Education works closely with the Department of Education, state policymakers, educators, and other interested stakeholders to review, develop and adopt regulations that govern significant components of both basic and higher education in the Commonwealth. Here you will find information about regulations currently under review by the Board.

Chapter 4 (Academic Standards and Assessment)

The Board's Committee on Academic Standards/Chapter 4 (Committee) is designated by the Board to oversee issues related to academic standards and assessment that are governed by the regulations at 22 Pa. Code Chapter 4 and to recommend draft revisions to Chapter 4. In September 2022, the Committee reached consensus to open the following three sets of standards for a periodic review: Career Education and Work, Economics, and Family and Consumer Sciences.

The Committee further requested that the Department of Education serve in partnership to support this effort by engaging educators and other content experts in an initial review of the standards. Through that consultation with external stakeholders, the Committee requested that the Department develop recommendations on whether the standards should be revised and, if so, formulate draft amendments to the standards for consideration by the Committee. A memo that reflects the Committee's request of the Department can be found here: Review of Academic Standards for Career Education and Work, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Economics (PDF)

Recommendations developed by the standards review content committees were delivered to the Committee in July of 2023 in the following report: Pennsylvania Career Education and Work, Economics, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Personal Finance Standards Recommendations of the Content Committees (PDF)

The Committee also announced that it would consider amendments to other provisions of Chapter 4 in tandem with the recommendations on academic standards in the aforementioned report.  Draft amendments to other provision of Chapter 4 were posted for public review on the Board's website.

In the fall of 2023, the Committee held public hearings and accepted written testimony to collect input on these standards recommendations and on  other draft amendments to Chapter 4.  In addition to the Committee considering stakeholder input from these hearings, the initial standards content review teams were reconvened to review this input as well.  A report from the initial standards review teams was presented to the Board at its public meetin g in November of 2023 .

On January 11, 2024, the Committee recommended proposed amendments to Chapter 4, including updated academic standards that would replace the current standards for Career Education and Work, Economics, and Family and Consumer Sciences and including proposed new standards for Personal Finance.  The proposed amendments to Chapter 4 also were approved by the Council of Basic Education and by the State Board of Education.    The proposed rulemaking was published for public comment in July of 2024.

On September 12, 2024, the Committee met to consider additional amendments to Chapter 4 in response to comments received from interested stakeholders, members of the General Assembly, and the Independent Regulatory Review Commission.  Final-form amendments recommended by the Committee were approved by the Council of Basic Education and the State Board of Education. 

The five documents below collectively comprise the final-form rulemaking that was adopted by the State Board of Education:

• ​Annex A (22 Pa. Code Chapter 4) (PDF)
  
• Final-form Academic Standards for Personal Finance (Appendix F) (PDF)
• Final-form Academic Standards for Career Education and Work (Appendix E-1) (PDF)
  
• Final-form Academic Standards for Economics (Appendix C-1) (PDF)
  
• Final-form Academic Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences (Appendix D-1)​​ (PDF)
  

Chapter 16 (Gifted Education)

In September 2022, the Board's Committee on Special and Gifted Education (Committee) announced that it would open 22 Pa. Code Chapter 16 (Gifted Education) for review. Section 16.6(c) of the regulation establishes that the Board will review the Chapter at least every four years to ensure its consistent interpretation and application.

The Board's last review of Chapter 16 was commenced in the fall of 2018 and, at the culmination of that process, the Committee endorsed a series of recommendations to improve gifted education for students in the Commonwealth. To inform its review of Chapter 16, the Committee invited the Department of Education to make a presentation on the status of implementing recommendations previously endorsed by the Committee. The status update presented by the Department in September of 2022 can be found here: 2019 Committee Recommendations for PA Gifted Education (PDF)

The Committee invited interested stakeholders to provide perspectives on gifted education at three public roundtables during the fall of 2022. Roundtables were held in Central Pennsylvania (October 20), Western Pennsylvania (October 25), and Eastern Pennsylvania (October 27) using a hybrid virtual and in-person format.  In addition to hearing from interested stakeholders at these public roundtables, the Committee also accepted comments on gifted education in writing through the end of October 2022.  This stakeholder input was reviewed and considered by the Committee. 

The Committee met on July 12, 2023, and adopted recommendations that are intended to improve the delivery of gifted education services and provide greater clarity to the field on the application of the current regulations in Chapter 16.  The Committee's recommendation can be found here: Gifted Education Recommendations (PDF)