November 1998
Report to the State Board of Regents
BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER RICHARD P. MILLS


The answer is yes!

An urban superintendent at the Leadership Forum in Buffalo asked the two important questions: When the pressure gets intense on the standards, will the Regents and the Commissioner stay the course? Will the Regents and the Commissioner fight for the resources to pay for extra help for children who need it to meet the standards? To both questions, I answered, "Yes!" Regent Bennett was there and signaled agreement.

People everywhere need to hear that answer. I have talked to sixteen audiences during October and traveled more than 4,000 miles to get to them. They represented much of the University of the State of New York. Everywhere there is heightened urgency and recognition that the system is moving toward higher performance. People know the risks and that’s why they ask the questions. They will accept the risks in this good cause if leadership is resolute.

Regional Conferences on School Leadership

Regents and District Superintendents have hosted three Leadership Conferences so far, all to overflow crowds. There are seven more to come. We are gathering rich information that will help us understand the problems facing school leaders and then drive toward Regents policy in the spring. Here are some early insights:

High performance and effective school leadership are inextricably linked. The result of our work on leadership will be a better environment for leaders, but the chief beneficiaries will be the students.

School leaders came into education in the first place because they wanted to develop the capacity of other people. It shouldn’t surprise us, therefore, when the Leadership Conference discussions quickly bring out the mentor in most school leaders. Mentorship is a position of power and authority. We will need this quality to create the conditions that attract the next generation of school leaders.

The discussions are not only about traditional leadership roles. The conversations started with superintendents but one of the best things we did was to expand our thinking to include teacher union leaders, principals, and school board members. Leadership teams are coming to these conferences, not just individual leaders. As a result, we are seeing the benefits of leadership in depth.

We can tap promising individuals and help them become leaders. The quiet conversations about who might be ready to move up have always been there, but there is a real chance that we will make these conversations more deliberate. District and regional leaders are talking openly about "growing their own" leaders and the possibility of sharing the talent statewide is on the table.

We need to recruit from a more diverse talent pool when we look for school leaders. At least that is the impression one gets in looking over the crowd at many of the Leadership Forums. This is part of the problem, and part of the opportunity before us. It must be made a high priority.

The BOCES are appearing in the best possible light at these conferences. The turnout has been better than promised, the small group presentations are strong, and the capacity of these regional organizations to support leaders is manifest.

Higher Education Advisory Council

With the support of Deputy Commissioner Gerald Patton, I have appointed a Commissioner’s Advisory Council on Higher Education. The Council includes distinguished college and university presidents from all sectors of New York’s diverse higher education community. Their charge is straightforward:


The Commissioner’s Advisory Council on Higher Education will identify and prioritize critical issues in higher education. The Council will advise the Commissioner on the implications of the issues for students, postsecondary institutions, and the State as a whole, and will recommend steps for addressing them.


I anticipate a strong response from these leaders and will share the results with the Regents periodically after the first meeting in December.

Second Annual Leadership Forum for the Professions

The second Leadership Forum for the Professions will assemble on November 19 from 9:30 to 4:00 at Hudson Valley Community College. The Chairs of every professional board and the Executive Directors of the Professional Associations will meet with Deputy Commissioner Duncan-Poitier and me. I urge Regents to attend.

We will discuss the Regents legislative and budget initiatives in the Professions, preview the computer system that will help us meet customer expectations, report on the recent board member training on professional discipline, and examine topics such as new issues in corporate practice, among many other issues.

Office of Professions Wins Work Force Champion Award

The Governor’s Office of Employee Relations picked the Office of the Professions for one of six Work Force Champion Awards for 1998. Of over 100 nominations received, The Professions team won this recognition because they expedited the credentialing process, streamlined the discipline process, and improved service to the public in measurable ways. I will attend the award ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion on November 23 to show our pride in this accomplishment by our colleagues in the Office of Professions.

Falling Vocational Rehabilitation Placements

For the first time since 1991 vocational rehabilitation placements have dropped. This year we placed 14,891 consumers, which is down from 16,487 last year. Part of the reason was significant staff attrition, which lowered our capacity. However, the Division of the Budget last month approved waivers to fill a number of vacancies. A second major reason for the drop was a change in the federal definition of placement. We used to be able to count a placement after a person was on the job for 60 days. Now they must be on the job for 90 days before they can be counted. We also invested a week of staff time throughout VESID in gaining new technical skills.

In spite of the decline in the number of placements, the savings in public assistance aid remained the same. VESID staff concludes that we are serving a higher percentage of welfare recipients as a result of Welfare Reform. VESID staff outlined steps to reverse the drop in placements at their quarterly performance review last week.

Truth telling is the starting point for higher student performance.

I am meeting leaders in the Big Four school districts this fall to pave the way for Regents policy to close the gap in student performance. We have already had those discussions in two cities. In Buffalo, for example, the Mayor, school board members, the Deputy County Executive, a Regent, the Superintendent, senior staff from the State Education Department, many leaders from human services, the arts community, and many others were there. The meeting opened with Superintendent James Harris’ forthright presentation of data on student performance. The students are far from meeting the standards and the Superintendent said so. No one backed away from the facts. No one offered excuses. No one suggested that the children couldn’t rise to the standards if they got the help they needed. Key people began to commit themselves and their organizations to help change the situation.

We had a similar meeting in Rochester, followed by a second one a week later in which Superintendent Clifford Janey presented his annual report to the community. And as in the case of Buffalo, the community, education and elected leaders were there. They celebrated their successes, and also pointed to disappointing results in one area and declared them unacceptable. Then they concentrated on what the whole community would do to improve performance.

In both of these meetings, student leaders made a particularly distinguished contribution.

"Here shall be gathered the best books from all lands and all ages."

Those words appear high up in the great hall of the State Education Building and recall a time when that was the site of the State Library. The words are a statement of vision and standards, and I repeated them last week to nearly 900 librarians at the New York Library Association. Libraries are still about books, but they are also about electronic information, whole systems of libraries, distant but linked collections, and powerful tools to search, find, and share information. And fundamentally, libraries are still about people.

Libraries do not stand alone, but as critically important elements within the University of the State of New York. There are many problems – the low collections budgets, inaccessible library buildings in some communities, the circulation limit on books for the blind due to resource limitations and the lack of free direct access to library services – and I related what I had seen. There are also standout achievements – the restoration of the Great Reading Room at the New York Public, the expansion of electronic catalogues, the amazing cost effectiveness of the library systems, and the wonderful examples of integrated print, electronic and other media in some libraries.

But the tasks ahead are great. There are many who love libraries. What we need are people who will fight for libraries, build libraries, and position libraries for the future. That is my job and the job of the Regents. To prepare ourselves for the task, we need the work of the Regents Commission on Library Services. It is their role to help us renew the vision and the standards for libraries in New York. The Commission’s work is well begun.

Two Regents Initiatives

This month Chancellor Carl Hayden will charge two Regents Task Forces to give policy oversight to initiatives that will lead to policy action next year. The initiatives involve 1) school leadership and 2) closing the gap in performance in high need school districts. The State Education Department has prepared the ground for this new work.

For each initiative, we have a staff support team and will soon recommend an advisory panel to the Regents. We have prepared and circulated a conceptual framework for policy development, conducted regional conferences, engaged local leaders, charged District Superintendents to provide strong regional leadership on implementation, and gathered research. Also, we have written and spoken extensively about the issues.

Here is the heart of the matter. The standards are for all children. There is a huge gap in the academic achievement of many children in some schools and school districts. We must and we will work together to raise performance and close that gap. We won’t lower the standards and we won’t leave children behind.

And on the matter of leadership: High student performance and capable leadership are inextricably linked. We are not recruiting new leaders in sufficient numbers and the environment is often hostile to school leaders. We will exert ourselves to understand the real problem and then solve it. And we will do this in such a manner that talented people will say, "Here am I, send me."


A monthly publication of the State Education Department

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