ESSAA Stakeholder Meeting Summaries

Supporting school leaders, every day

Summary of June 2024 Stakeholders Meeting 

The Empire State Supervisors and Administrators Association (ESSAA) held their monthly Stakeholder Meeting on Monday, June 3, 2024, via videoconference. Participants representing NYSED included Commissioner Betty Rosa; Senior Deputy Commissioner for Education Policy, Jeffrey Matteson; Deputy Commissioner, P-12 Operational Supports, Jason Harmon; and Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Educational Policy, David Frank. 

ESSAA was represented at the meeting by ESSAA President, Carol Conklin-Spillane; Executive Director, Mike Starvaggi; Executive Vice President, Skip Voorneveld; Vice President, Lisa O’Neill; Director of Information Resources, Celia Strino; and Regents/NYSED Liaison, Paul Scampini. 

Topics discussed during the meeting included: 

1. Review of Implementation Plan for Reimagine Phase 1 Accountability Measures 
2. Feedback on Recent Computer Based Testing 
3. Update on Changes to New Earth and Space Sciences and Life Science: Biology High School Science Exams 
4. Administrative Certification Reform Update 
5. Need for Increased Support and Mentoring for New Educational Leaders 

Important Note: 

The informational summary provided by NYSED prior to the meeting is available as an attachment at the end of this report. The summary includes updated background information, data, and links to additional guidance on many of the areas that were discussed and also on current issues that were not addressed during the meeting. 

1. Delay in Preliminary Federal Grant Allocations (Title I, Title II, Title IV) 
2. Reimagine Phase 1 Implementation 
3. Update on High School Science Investigations for New Earth and Space Sciences and Life Science: Biology Assessments 
4. Computer Based Testing Update 
5. Approval of Early College Access CO-SER to Expand Early College Access and Require General Education Courses to be Fully Transferrable 
6. New School Safety Regulations Relating to Emergency Drills 
7. Summary of Proposed Teacher and Administrator Certification Reforms 

Deputy Commissioner Frank opened the meeting by reviewing some of the items included in the NYSED Stakeholder Update. 

1. Implementation of Reimagine Phase 1 Accountability Plan – As new performance indicators are reintroduced into the school accountability formulas, it was emphasized that 2024-2025 school data will be used to determine the accountability determinants for 2025-2026. 

Mrs. Conklin-Spillane asked if it would be possible for NYSED staff to facilitate a session for ESSAA members which would include a guided walkthrough of the Reimagine Phase 1 Plan and offer attendees the opportunity to provide targeted feedback. Deputy Commissioner Harmon responded that he would propose the request and try to schedule the session for the near future. 

1. Computer Based Testing – Data was shared regarding the number of NYS students in grades 3-8 (608,000) who utilized CBT this year. 

Mrs. Conklin-Spillane shared a concern that had been expressed by the principal of a school with large numbers of Spanish speakers who was not able to administer assessments through CBT, and had to resort to using paper tests. Deputy Commissioner Harmon responded that the CBT Dual Language option is set up to support a limited number of students as an accommodation, not for large numbers of students. The Deputy Commissioner went on to say that he was not aware that this issue occurred and would reach out to the district to get more information. 

1. High School Science Exam Investigations – Regents examinations in Earth and Space Sciences and Life Science: Biology, which will be administered for the first time in June 2025, will now include authentic, hands-on scientific and engineering experiences within the assessments. Mrs. Conklin-Spillane emphasized the need to provide resource funding and professional development to enable science teachers to successfully prepare students in these competencies. 

1. Administrative Certification Reform Update – Deputy Commissioner Matteson highlighted some of the components related to proposed certification changes, specifically as they relate to educational leaders. One key change would combine the current School Building Leader (SBL) Certificate and 

1. into a single Professional Administrator Certificate that includes both building and district level competencies. 

1. Increasing Need to Recruit, Support, and Retain New Educational Leaders – The discussion with Deputy Commissioner Matteson regarding certification changes provided a nice segue into an area of concern that ESSAA representatives continue to emphasize at Stakeholder Meetings. Mrs. Conklin-Spillane expressed that, while certification reform is a positive step, the current administrator internship model is clearly outdated and needs to be revised. She added that the range of school administrator roles is rapidly increasing and the current internship experience is not exposing candidates to the variety of skills they will need to succeed in most leadership roles. Mrs. Conklin-Spillane stressed that what is currently being used lacks cohesiveness and we must start asking must what we can do to create an effective system of coaching and mentoring with clear expectations. 

Commissioner Rosa and Deputy Commissioner Matteson both acknowledged the concerns and responded that the new APPR regulations offer an opportunity to make progress in this area. Deputy Commissioner Matteson feels new APPR regulations will allow building leaders to focus more on instructional leadership and less on bureaucratic tasks. The Deputy Commissioner stressed the need to address the standards used to orient inexperienced administrators into their new roles. As a means to address the expanding administrative roles, the Deputy Commissioner also mentioned the possibility of implementing micro-credential options for various administrative roles that could be earned by candidates as they complete their leadership program. 

Mrs. Conklin-Spillane also specifically addressed the current roles and responsibilities of the Assistant Principal. As the biggest single entry point for new education leaders, she expressed serious concern with how the role has been reduced to disciplinarian and incident investigator. This is resulting in many young administrators leaving the positions due to the narrow scope of their work expectations. 

To conclude the discussion Mrs. Conklin-Spillane once again stressed the need to fully incorporate the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSELs) which were adopted by the Board of Regents in 2017. She feels the PSELs provide an effective framework to guide the recruitment, mentoring, professional growth and evaluation of school leaders. While the newly approved APPR regulations require that all Administrator Evaluation Plans address each PSEL standard, she is frustrated that the PSELs have received little attention with regards to guiding leadership development since being adopted over six years ago. 

NYSED Agenda Summary Notes – A copy of the document can be found as a separate attachment/link, or to request a copy please contact Bonnie Berry at: bberry@essaa.org. 

ESSAA Members: If you have any feedback on the foregoing issues or would like to suggest a topic to be addressed with the Commissioner at an upcoming meeting, please e-mail us at info@essaa.org. New topics will be submitted to our Stakeholder Committee for consideration.