NYS Board of Regents Meeting Summaries

Summary of March 2023 Board of Regents Meeting

The Board of Regents conducted their monthly meeting on Monday, March 13th. Due to the impending snowstorm, the meeting agenda was shortened and several items were taken off the agenda and will be presented at a future meeting.

• The opening session focused on an overview of the work being done by the NYSED Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) toward establishing performance standards and cut scores for state assessments. Comprised of nine representatives from various colleges and universities, TAC works with NYSED staff to ensure the validity and reliability of how assessment results are interpreted.

This summer, the Technical Advisory Committee, together with NYSED staff and teachers from across the state, will establish cut scores for many of the new assessments associated with the Next Generation Learning Standards. Dr. Marianne Perie, the Director of Assessment, Research and Innovation at the WestEd educational consulting group, Co-Chairs the committee. Dr. Perie provided a conceptual overview of how the performance standards for educational assessments are established, outlined the process used by the committee in analyzing student responses to assessment questions, and reviewed the steps used to determine the cut scores for each performance level.

The link below provides more detailed summary of the steps and criteria used with the standard setting process.

https://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/Monday%20FB%20-%20New%20York%20State%20Education%20Department%20Assessment%20Technical%20Advisory%20Committee%20and%20Standard%20Setting.pdf

 

• The Board discussed a proposed amendment which would require school counselor preparation programs to include coursework and training in:1. School violence prevention and intervention.
  2. The identification and reporting of suspected child abuse.
  3. The prevention and intervention of harassment, bullying, and discrimination.Following the 60-day public comment period, it is anticipated that the amendment will be presented for adoption at the July 2023 Board of Regents meeting.

https://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/323hed1.pdf

• Associate Commissioner for the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages, Elisa Alvarez, updated the Board on their efforts to better support English Language Learners and Multilingual Learners. Areas of emphasis include:

o Efforts to increase stakeholder and family engagement.
o New initiatives that support newly arrived immigrants and refugees.
o Improving and enhancing staff training opportunities.
o Expanding available K-12 instructional resources for classroom and content area teachers.
o Increased presence at state and national conferences.
o Expanding available family resources in multiple languages through the Regional Bilingual Education

Resource Network (RBERN).
o Developing resources tos upport co-teaching of ELL students.
o Increasing the number of students pursuing the NYS Seal of Biliteracy.
o Promoting and supporting more opportunities for classroom teachers to earn English to Speakers of Other

Languages (ESOL) certification or a Bilingual Extension to a teacher’s current certification. The link below provides more detailed information of what was included in the presentation.

https://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/P-12%20-%20Supporting%20English%20Language%20Learners%20and%20Multilingual%20Learners%20in%20New%20York%20State.pdf