BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER RICHARD P. MILLS
September 1999
BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER
RICHARD P. MILLS
The meeting in September reflects the Regents priorities across the whole scope of our responsibility. Regents are scheduled to vote on regulations on teacher preparation, vote on their 2000-2001 budget proposal in the context of their on-going discussions of the new strategic plan, and approve for public discussion the report of the Task Force on Postsecondary Education and Disabilities.
Regents will consider a State Education Department report on our intervention in Roosevelt and vote on appointments to the oversight panel in that district. We will study a report on how state aid could be adjusted for regional cost differences and look ahead to the appearance of the Library Commission Report in November.
Members of the Advisory Panel on Closing the Gap in Student Achievement will join the full Board to talk strategy on raising student achievement with Kati Haycock.
And it is time to recognize two landmarks in our work together to improve student achievement: the passage of legislation reforming special education funding in response to four years of determined effort by the Regents and the State Education Department; and a state aid increase of $913 million and a total increase of $2.4 billion over three years.
Well-prepared teachers are indispensable in the Regents campaign to educate all children to high standards. This month, the Board of Regents is scheduled to adopt regulations that will transform the teacher preparation along the lines already drawn in policy in Teaching to High Standards. The Board has of necessity focused so intently on the details in recent months that it may be useful to remind everyone again of the broad picture. The proposed regulations would require all new teachers to:
In addition,
Recommendation: These elements are essential to the success of the Regents high standards. In committee, the Regents have made appropriate revisions after reflecting on public comment. I recommend that the Board now adopt the proposed regulations.
The Regents Task Force on Closing the Performance Gap has considered both national and statewide data that show that different groups of students have very different experiences in school. Some face high expectations in schools that are richly endowed to ensure that they meet those expectations. Others are expected to achieve less and in fact do. In our effort to correct this unacceptable situation, we have pondered the writings of many who have drawn the nation’s attention to the facts. At the September meeting, we will hear from one of the foremost of those experts, Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust.
Kati Haycock and her colleagues encourage us to think of Pre-K through 16 – to break out of familiar distinctions between secondary education and higher education. This is precisely the course charted by our Higher Education Advisory Committee. It also reflects the discussion at the Regents policy retreat in July.
Recommendation: We have defined the student achievement problem using the data, outlined broad-gauge strategies and put many of them in place. As we interact with Ms. Haycock, chief among the questions to ask is this: What can we do next that will have the greatest effect on these results?
Every school has its challenges but every State Education Department data report demonstrates that the gaps between standards and actual student performance are greatest in the schools of the Big Five school districts. In these five districts New York educates more than 45 percent of our children. This fall, we will concentrate our work there, first by visiting schools, then by engaging community and education leaders and parents. The message will be two-fold: in some schools the results simply cannot be allowed to stand and in the same communities some schools already exceed the standards.
The Task Force on Postsecondary Education and Disabilities has completed its research and recommended strategies to enhance access to higher education for individuals with disabilities. The Regents exam results will help us understand the need to be ready with solutions in this area.
Among the proposals are these:
The substance of these recommendations, and the policy decisions to follow, are the heart of the matter here, but it’s worth noting that this Task Force from its inception represents a new way of doing our work. The entire scope of the University of the State of New York is engaged: CUNY, SUNY, Independent Colleges and Proprietary Colleges, public and nonpublic schools, along with the State Education Department and the Regents. Thanks to all who have joined in the common work.
Recommendation: I recommend that the Regents approve the draft report for public discussion in regional forums during October and prepare for Regents discussions of any needed revisions to the report in December.
In September the Regents discussions leading to a renewed strategic plan and their review of potential budget initiatives come together. Regent Bennett will summarize the results of his consultations with Regents about planning priorities, and in that context, Chief Operating Officer Richard Cate will review our short list of budget priorities. If the Regents approve of the budget proposal, only the state aid proposal will await action in November. If Regents are satisfied with the planning priorities, we will conclude the revision of the Strategic Plan for approval in December.
Recommendation: I recommend the Regents adopt the proposed 2000-2001 Budget Proposal.
Additional items that will come to Regents for action later this fall:
The Library Commission conducted hearings last Spring, reviewed service models from various places, and surveyed libraries and the public. Regents can expect draft recommendations in November, to be followed by extensive public review during the winter months. Emerging recommendations seek to eliminate unserved areas, increase equity of access to library services through changes in the aid program, and improved standards in all libraries including those in schools. One particularly interesting concept to be explored in our Policy and Legislative Conference is a statewide E-Library Card that would open a massive digital library to all New Yorkers.
Also coming before the full Board in November is the new State Museum Master Plan which will be discussed with the Cultural Education Committee this month. The current exhibits were conceived in the 1960s. We must change. And we must put before the public more of the enormous collections and research capability of the State Museum. The Master Plan is the foundation for a renovation of all the exhibits and it will set the direction for many years to come.
The new framework will use new technology and current understanding of how people learn. The exhibits will not be permanent but long term and flexible within particular themes. This will enable us to put much more of our remarkable collections on view.
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