As ESSAA’s Regents Liaison, Paul Scampini attends the monthly meetings of the Board of Regents. Following is a summary of meeting held on May 8 and 9 of 2017:
The majority of the May 2017 meeting of the Board of Regents was dedicated to the presentation of the draft Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan. Together with consultants Linda Darling Hammond and Scott Marion, Commissioner Elia presented a summary of the key components of the draft application. Included was an overview of the process that was followed in the development of the application, a summary of the proposed school quality indicators that will be used for school accountability purposes, and the proposed methodology that will be used for identifying schools that require support and intervention measures.
As it is currently written, the key accountability components of the plan include:
Grades 3 – 8:
- Academic Achievement in ELA, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies
- Academic growth in the areas of ELA and Mathematics
- Chronic Absenteeism
- Academic growth in the area of English Language Proficiency for ELL students
Grades 9-12:
- Academic achievement in the areas of ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies
- Four, five and six year graduation rates
- Academic progress in the area of English Language Proficiency for ELL students
- Chronic Absenteeism
- College, Career and Civic Readiness
More detailed descriptions of the various indicators can be found in the links below. They include a summary of Monday’s presentation to the Board of Regents, and links to both a summary of the draft application and the complete draft application.
https://www.regents.nysed.gov/
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/
Public hearings have been scheduled across the state to gather feedback on the draft and will continue through June 16.A link to the schedule for these meetings is attached below.
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/
After any necessary revisions, the final application will be presented to the Board of Regents for approval at their July meeting and will then be sent to the Governor for review.The deadline for submission to the Department of Education is September 18, 2017.
- During the meeting, the Board was also updated on the progress of the Principal Preparation Project. Dr. Ken Turner, who is directing the project, presented a list of preliminary recommendations from the workgroup being forwarded to the Board of Regents in early June.The recommendations focus primarily on the areas of:
- Ensuring that initial principal certification is based on the most current national standards
- Deciding whether to eliminate, revise or replace the current School Building Leader exam
- Improving and expanding the internship experience necessary for initial certification
- Improving the mentoring process for supporting new principals
The Board formally adopted the Next Generation English Language Arts and Mathematics Learning Standards and highlighted recent revisions to both areas. https://www.regents.nysed.gov/
The Board took emergency action regarding Middle Level program requirements for Career and Technical Education (CTE).This action adds flexible options for districts to meet Middle Level CTE requirements and expands opportunities to better align middle level and high school CTE courses.The amendment goes into effect for the 2017-18 school year.
- The Board took emergency action on a proposed amendment to expand pathways for candidates to obtain teaching certification in the area of career and Technical Education (CTE).
https://www.regents.nysed.gov/
- The Board took emergency action on a proposed amendment to implement provisions of the Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act for the Education of Homeless Students to align with new requirements associated with the ESSA legislation.
