January 2000
Report to the State Board of Regents
BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER RICHARD P. MILLS


The Meeting in Brief

January is the occasion for yet another of the Regents regional visits. This month, you will be on Long Island. The Regents will meet presidents of Long Island colleges and universities. This also will be the Regents first opportunity to meet Trustees of Adelphi University since the Regents took the historic action regarding this institution in February 1997. The Community Forum on Wednesday evening will focus on parents’ contributions to closing the gaps in student achievement in relation to the standards. On Thursday, Regents will visit schools on Long Island.

Among the business items are: Regents will vote on a charter for the Harriet Tubman Charter School. Regents will also vote on the amendments to Commissioner’s Regulations relating to the Albert Shanker National Board Certification program for teachers and to Part 100.

State of the State

Chancellor Hayden, Regents Dawson and Levy, and I represented the Regents at the joint session of the Senate and Assembly to hear Governor George Pataki’s State of the State message earlier this month. The Governor expressed strong support for high standards for all students. In his response, Speaker Silver also endorsed the standards and directed public attention to improving test results.

Governor Pataki outlined a comprehensive program for teacher education and recruitment. Among his ideas are: free tuition up to the limit of the state colleges for teachers; a "Summer in the City" initiative to bring college juniors to help in summer school – where we would vigorously recruit them as future teachers, by the way; and a voucher to help uncertified teachers complete their education. The Governor called for an alternative route to teacher preparation and proposed five years for teachers to earn a master’s degree. Governor Pataki also proposed ideas developed by his Task Force on School Violence, chaired by the Lt. Governor.

To this listener, the education portion of the Governor’s speech was a compelling recruiting message. As it happened, the Governor of California addressed the same issue on the same day. It was a signal to all of us that a bidding war is developing among the states to recruit able teachers. While the Regents proposals on teacher preparation and recruitment attracted little interest in the last legislative session, this year is quite another story.

The New York City Chancellorship

Rudy Crew became Chancellor in New York City in 1995. He served during challenging times and made significant contributions to setting standards, improving school governance, reinvigorating the arts in schools, improving and in some cases closing the lowest performing schools. I respect him as an educational leader and for his unfailing personal commitment to the children of New York City.

If school leadership is a race, it is surely not a marathon but a relay. No one person is allowed to run the whole race. Rather each runner takes the baton from someone who started before, then runs the next leg with all available heart and grace, and then passes the baton to another. It’s the whole team that matters and continuity is everything.

The New York City Board of Education has proposed the appointment of an interim chancellor. State law and regulations prescribe a process in the event that the candidate for chancellor is not certified as a school administrator. The commissioner of education "may issue a certificate as school administrator to exceptionally qualified persons who do not meet all of the graduate course or school teaching requirements… but whose exceptional training and experience are the substantial equivalent of such requirements…" To inform the decision, the commissioner "will refer the materials submitted by the board to a screening panel consisting of representatives of the department and appropriate educational organizations for review and advice." I am in the process of appointing such a panel.

Standards Update

Later this month the State Education Department will announce the number of seniors who have not yet passed the English Regents exam. Preliminary numbers look very encouraging, and the students who have not yet met this requirement for graduation will have additional instruction and additional opportunities to pass the exam.

We will continue to watch other indicators: the performance on Regents mathematics – not required for graduation until the class of 2001, and the results on the Global Studies Regents. Global Studies is not required until the class of 2002 graduates, but this June’s results will give us an indication of how they are doing.

Meanwhile, we continue to work on additional support and accommodations for students still learning English – the most recent of many conferences on this matter was at the end of November. And our panel on technical education continues.

We must be extraordinarily vigilant to protect children. But to those who would change the standards, slow the pace, or drop some of the testing requirements, I would say that the data not justify such actions today. The best course, therefore, is to press on and make sure that students learn what they will need.

Schools farthest from the standards

On January 10, pursuant to Regents policy, I placed 24 schools on the list of Schools Under Registration Review, and removed 15 schools from that list because they improved student achievement. Here are some details: 19 New York City schools are among those added to the list, and 13 are removed. Acting Chancellor Judith Rizzo has decided to close one additional school that had been on the list but was now out of time and still not performing. Also among the schools added to the list are two in Yonkers, and one each in Rochester, Schenectady and Syracuse.

Charter Schools

In December, the Board approved the charter application from the Harriet Tubman Charter School. The second step of the process calls for the Board to give final approval to the charter agreement in January so that a provisional charter can be issued to incorporate the charter school as an education corporation pursuant to law.

School Attendance Initiative

On December 22, I announced a school attendance initiative linked to the State’s goal of increasing academic standards and performance. State rules and guidance for keeping attendance have not changed in more than 40 years. But student behavior, academic expectations, family patterns and technology have changed. The issues to be addressed include:

The Department has already taken significant first steps. They include reviewing State and federal laws and regulations, conducting eight regional workshops this year on attendance, and adjusting audit plans to increase audits of school district attendance systems as part of an overall effort to improve the reliability of school district data. Additional actions planned are:

African American History Month

The Governor and the State Education Department will host an evening event for African American History Month on February 1, 2000 at the State Museum. The theme of the program this year is "Heritage and Horizons: The African American Legacy and the Challenges of the 21st Century."

The highlight will be the display of the Emancipation Proclamation draft in Lincoln’s handwriting. The exhibit will be accessible to the public for six days, including extended hours on two nights.

Staff Recognition

Another member of our team has received well-deserved recognition. Dave Johnson was elected Vice President/President-Elect of the National Council of State Board Education Executives (NCSBEE) at the Council’s Annual Conference in October. His term of office as President begins in October 2000 and runs through October 2001.

NCSBEE was established in 1979 as an affiliate of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) and is the national organization that assists board executives in their professional roles and responsibilities serving state boards of education.


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Last Updated: April 21, 2000 (emc)
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