BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER RICHARD P. MILLS
January 1999
BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER
RICHARD P. MILLS
The figures are still preliminary but continuous effort to reform special education is working. It appears that the increase in classification rates is the smallest in a decade and fewer children are being educated in segregated sites. District superintendents and local superintendents are providing superb leadership to help resolve these issues. Deputy Commissioner Gloeckler will present more information about these data in February.
One disturbing trend is the continued increase in the use of full-time special education classes. Our figures here are far above national averages. New York’s funding formula contributes to this result, and this is why our formula must change.
More groups and individuals are joining the effort. Fifteen educational advocacy organizations have signed a joint statement of support for the Regents special education proposal. The letter is from the Advocates for Children, written on behalf of organizations including the Executive Director of the Educational Priorities Panel, Legal Aid Society, Long Island Advocacy Center, Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, Rural Law Center, and Statewide Youth Advocacy.
New York’s new 4th grade English test this month will be no pop quiz.
We’ve been talking about the higher standards that drive the test for years. Parents are aware of what is coming. Sample test questions ended up on breakfast tables all over the state this fall when more than 4 million copies of "Testing 1-2-3" fell out of newspapers. Teachers everywhere have given sample versions of the tests to students. In November, a statewide televised parent night about the test on PBS drew more than 18,000 questions.
We are about as ready as we can be – for now.
Most agree that the test is challenging. Some wonder if we are expecting too much, but I don’t think so. For example, by 4th grade, we expect children to spell frequently used words correctly, put verbs in the correct tense, and use a varied vocabulary. We want them to punctuate correctly and produce clear and well-organized reports, stories, letters and other material. We expect 4th graders to read a minimum of 25 books a year and to understand what they read. We want them to be able to identify themes, describe characters, draw conclusions and make inferences about events and characters in stories, and identify and interpret significant facts and details in nonfiction writing. These are among the basics, and it’s not too much to ask.
The 4th grade English test will present interesting and complicated passages for children to read, some drawn from children’s literature, some from science and history. Then there will be questions that sometimes require multiple choice answers, and often short essays.
There is still a lot of nervousness out there about the test. If I could, I’d reach into every classroom and tell children to keep reading and writing, but also to relax a bit. The test is harder than the one it replaces. It’s meant to be. The early results are sure to be lower than all of us would want. But they will get better. Teachers, parents, and students are working very hard on that. We just have to start the climb to higher performance.
All children must learn to read, to write, and to use their minds. They need to get ready for the more serious work ahead, and we do not help – in fact we hurt them - when we pretend that weak skills are strong. We do a real injustice when we allow some children to prepare for the good things in life because we insist that they get the skills, but allow so many others to coast along with few or no skills.
So our 4th graders are going to take a test, and all of us are going to pay attention to the results. We know that we have some hard work ahead to improve the results when they appear in the early spring. But that’s reasonable. And we must do that.
New York’s libraries are about to enjoy $20 million worth of information resources thanks to an investment of just under $1 million by the New York State Library.
EmpireLink, the statewide database access project, will provide free access to electronic information through all of New York State’s 7,000 libraries. Participation in the program is open to all libraries and library systems in the state, except for-profit corporations.
EmpireLink is a three-year pilot project funded through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant to the New York State Library by the Federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The program provides residents of New York State with free onsite and remote access to full-text, commercial databases. The first database available, Information Access Company’s Health Reference Center-Academic, is a source for both medical care professionals and consumers about important health information.
The EmpireLink Web page has information about the EmpireLink Help Desk telephone service, the EmpireLink listserve, registration, and training dates, search tips, press releases and more. Visit the EmpireLink web page at http://nysl.nysed.gov/library/emplink.
The Professional Standards and Practices Board will convene for its first meeting on January 21-22. They will organize for their work, adopt a set of bylaws for submission to the Regents at the February meeting, and appoint members to the committees on higher education and teaching. They will receive a report on the implications of the Teacher Task Force Report for their work. I will attend to give a charge to the Board for the first twelve to eighteen months.
Charter schools are now the law in New York State. Our job is to make them work for children. Within hours of the passage of the charter school legislation, the State Education Department had the full text of the bill on our web page and I had talked with SUNY Chancellor John Ryan to plan a coordinated approach to granting charter applications. State Education Department staff studied the bill and met with counterparts in SUNY, and we expect an application process to be working by February 1.
For several years, the Regents have held three meetings a year in a particular community, and often devoted to a single theme such as rural schools or special education. For the first time, the Regents are spending virtually their entire meeting on nonpublic education, and they are doing this in the Borough of Queens. The topic is timely.
When the Regents adopted their approach to high standards more than two years ago, the Commissioner’s Advisory Council for Nonpublic Schools wrote on behalf of these schools to ask that the standards and Regents exams not apply to them at that time. The Regents agreed, pending further discussion with the nonpublic community. There have been extensive discussions since but we have not yet come to a comfortable resolution. It is time to do so during this year, and the Regents visit to so many nonpublic schools this month provides an excellent way to increase knowledge and trust on all sides.
The Regents have an obligation to ensure that students in nonpublic schools meet high standards. At the same time, the independence of the nonpublic schools is valuable to them and also to the community of New York and it must not be compromised. There is enormous diversity among the nonpublic schools, and it is unlikely that we will find a single formulation that fits all of them. Nevertheless, nonpublic school leaders have been part of the effort to put standards in place, a great many are participating in the Regents exams already and in the new fourth grade test this month, and they have made a point of attending the regional forums on leadership. We can achieve a lot together if we continue the discussion and allow the nonpublic schools to find their appropriate way to participate in the campaign to raise standards and student performance. In the mid-1980s, when the Regents last raised standards across the board, we found a way to work together with nonpublic schools and I am confident that we will again in this new environment.
Governor George E. Pataki delivered his State of the State message on January 6 and included these topics concerning education:
Last October, VESID reported the first setback in placement results in seven years. Since then, VESID offices have made steady gains, and placement growth is back on track. In the current fiscal year, we are now 6 percent above where we were last year at this time.
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