March 2007
BY STATE EDUCATION COMMISSIONER
RICHARD P. MILLS
Teacher Supply and
Demand
Less than a
year after the initial report on teacher supply and demand, we have the second
report, which shows marked improvement in several indicators.
The data reveal progress as colleges
and schools move to prepare and employ teachers where they are needed. The data also enable prospective
teachers to make decisions about which fields to enter. Regents now have a guide for policy
making on teacher credentials. The
State Education Department can better align funding decisions. Educators can better position new
alternative certification programs.
In addition the Board will hear
about the Department’s new web-based teacher certification system (known as
TEACH) that expedites the movement of qualified graduates of teacher preparation
programs into the pool of certified teachers eligible for employment. In less than a year of operation the
Department has issued over 24,500 certificates through this
system.
The
Comptroller’s audit that we requested is now public.
1. Address fiscal crisis and help Roosevelt
regain financial stability.
·
Issued a Commissioner’s Order to
ensure more than $4.4 million in revenue enhancements and spending reductions in
the 2006-07 spending plan.
·
Ordered the preparation of a 2007-08
budget that is complete and in structural balance by April 2,
2007.
·
Named a team of experienced school
leaders to advise me on additional spending reductions and revenue enhancements
in both the 2006-07 and 2007-08 budgets.
I am prepared to ensure these additional spending reductions and revenue
enhancements with additional Commissioner’s Orders followed by monitoring. The team members are James Mapes,
District Superintendent, Nassau BOCES, Edward Zero, District Superintendent,
Eastern Suffolk BOCES and William Brosnan, former superintendent of
Northport-East Northport UFSD, who currently serves as Interim Director of the
·
Ordered a new Five Year Financial
Plan to restore financial stability within the resources that can reasonably be
expected to be available in
·
Directed Fiscal Administrator
Jeffrey White to determine that the following financial controls are currently
operational and sufficient, or to inform me so that we can direct immediate
improvements: Encumbrance of
expenditures, every purchase supported in advance by an approved purchase order,
balanced budget with reasonable and supported revenues and expenditure
projections, electronic system to block expenditures that are unsupported by a
budget line, and regular review of revenue and expenditure reports by senior
administrators and the Board of Education.
·
The Regents will review monthly
financial reports from
·
Assigned Jim Viola, Regional
Coordinator for School Improvement, to work in
·
Assigned newly appointed Senior
Deputy Commissioner Johanna Duncan-Poitier to make an expedited assessment of
other actions and systems needed improve student
achievement.
·
The Regents have scheduled their
monthly meeting to be in
Some have
said that
Preliminary Plan for Perkins Career
and Technical Education
Proposal to Discontinue Component
Retesting
The Regents
will discuss a proposal to discontinue component retesting. This is a program
introduced as part of the transition to 65 as a minimum passing score on Regents
exams. Students who have failed the
English or Mathematics A Regents exams two or more times may take components of
the exams that assess topics they have not yet mastered. The concept is attractive. In
practice, the program has
been costly and has served few students.
Only 5300
out of the 260,000 students taking tests used this program last year. The cost
per student is high: $261 per student vs. $2.35 for the regular assessment. And the existing appeals program,
together with the safety net for students with disabilities, provides
alternative support for students.
Proposal to Reduce Regulation of
Attendance in Non-Public Schools
At the
February meeting, the Regents heard a report on Mandated Services Aid and the
costs imposed on non-public schools by regulations that required taking
attendance at every class. We have
determined that non-public schools had sufficient systems in place to achieve
very high attendance rates prior to the 2001 regulation. The regulation in the
case of the non-public schools was costly and unnecessary.
Since the
last Regents meeting, the State Education Department has distributed half of the
Mandated Services Aid, exclusive of the comprehensive attendance program aid,
through a short form to get immediate aid to the non-public schools and begun
distributing the second half through the long form. A discussion to resolve the
comprehensive attendance aid issue is still pending as part of the budget
process.
Monitoring Middle School
Reform
The Regents
will discuss the second monitoring report of the Middle School Reform
policy. This report shows that few
schools have used the flexibility offered in the three middle school options. So
far, we have received 9 applications on behalf of 28 schools in 5 school
districts. Test results in the
middle grades reveal low achievement.
This approach is not producing results.
The report
suggests other approaches, including a focus on adolescent literacy and
professional and leadership development.
The original Regents policy statement on the components of effective
middle schools is worth another look, too.
We are not yet improving middle schools.
Literacy Among Young
Children
The Cultural Education Committee
will hear presentations from Sandra Feinberg, Director of the Middle Country
Public Library and Katherine Jetter, Educational Coordinator at WMHT, on library
and PBS programs and services that encourage emergent and early literacy in
young children. These programs,
which are available across the state, offer an informal approach to developing
school readiness skills in a population (birth-3 years) that has not yet become
involved in formal pre-K or kindergarten programs. These programs are a largely untapped
resource to educators that could, if better integrated with the educational
system and other family support systems, help reduce the number of children who
enter the school system unprepared.
Designing the Future of Vocational
Rehabilitation
The Regents
will receive an offline report on progress with the design of vocational
rehabilitation. VESID has combined
data analysis, pilot studies, training, financial controls, partnerships with
other state agencies and USNY institutions, and focus on fundamentals to
transform vocational education. The
design is showing results: After one quarter, VESID has achieved a third of its
placement goals for the year. This
work illustrates how a major part of the State Education Department is preparing
for the future.
A monthly publication of the State Education Department
Back to Report Home Page | Return to SED Home Page