Meeting of the Board of Regents | December 2009
Report of
REGENTS HIGHER EDUCATION/EMSC JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING
To
The Board of Regents
December 14, 2009
Your Higher Education and EMSC Committees held a joint meeting on December 14, 2009. All members of the Committees were present, except Regents Cohen, Hopkins and Norwood who were excused.
DISCUSSION ITEM:
I. HE (D) 2. PART II OF BOARD OF REGENTS DISCUSSION REGARDING STRENGTHENING TEACHING AND LEARNING IN New York STATE.
Last month, the Board of Regents consented to the direction of five policy recommendations found in Part I: Strengthening Teaching and Learning in New York State. This month, the Board consented to the policy directions found in Part II: Transforming Teaching and Learning and Strengthening the Preparation and Practice of School Leaders.
Transforming Teaching and Learning. The Committees discussed the following 7 recommendations that were presented by Commissioner Steiner and Deputy Commissioner Joseph P. Frey. Collectively the recommendations seek to strengthen instruction and provide support to new teachers, primarily those in urban school districts with high populations of very high need students. The recommendations are designed to underpin recruitment and retention of these teachers. The recommendations will be advanced by the Commissioner and the Department’s senior leadership, and will also be part of the Governor’s application to the State’s “Race to the Top” application.
1.) Create a statewide teacher career leader for school districts to utilize to compensate teachers for improving their teaching practice throughout their careers.
2.) Develop an enhanced Annual Professional Performance Review for teachers grounded in the newly developed teacher standards and designed to more clearly differentiate the performance of teacher effectiveness employing multiple measures, including student achievement and student growth data.
3.) Create a model induction program for new teachers designed to create “teacher leaders.”
4.) Create a rich clinically-based undergraduate teacher preparation model focused on serving the needs of students in the performance gap in high need schools.
5.) Put in place a formative assessment model of professional development for improving teaching and learning in high need schools.
6.) Incorporate the equitable distribution of effective teachers into district score cards and district accountability.
7.) Streamline the §3020-a process to preserve the integrity of the teaching profession.
Strengthening the Preparation and Practice of School Leaders. The Committees discussed the following 6 recommendations that were presented by Commissioner Steiner, Deputy Commissioner Joseph P. Frey, and Dr. Robert McClure. The recommendations are designed to support the work of principals and school leaders in urban schools, to provide best practices and sound professional development. The recommendations will be advanced by the Commissioner and the Department’s senior leadership, and will also be part of the Governor’s application to the State’s Race To The Top application.
1.) Put in place a clinically rich approach to prepare school principals to directly strengthen teaching and learning in their schools. Include in New York’s Race to the Top proposal a pilot program to prepare school leaders for high need schools, open to both collegiate and non-collegiate institutions with demonstrated results in raising the achievement of high need students.
2.) Put in place performance assessments for initial certification of school principals.
3.) Expand the leadership academies across New York State ensuring that all of the Big 5 cities and all regions of the State have access to professional development through these leadership academies.
4.) Create a statewide principal career ladder for school districts to utilize to compensate principals for demonstrating progressive improvement throughout their careers.
5.) Create an Annual Professional Performance Review for school leaders focused on strengthening student performance, feedback from multiple sources and aligning professional growth with areas that need improvement.
- Create transparent data profiles for all institutions that prepare school leaders.
Deputy Commissioner Frey will present the roll out plan to involve the field in discussion and implementation of this item at the January 2010 meeting of the Higher Education/EMSC Joint Committee meeting.
ACTION
It was moved to approve the conceptual proposals outlined in the item. The Board of Regents approved the policy recommendations included in the December 2009 Regents item [ HE (D) 2 ] on Teaching and Learning and School Leadership.
II. HE (D) 1 PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF PART 162 OF REGULATIONS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION RELATING TO VETERANS TUITION AWARDS PROGRAM
The purpose of the amendment is to establish standards and approval requirements for eligible agencies seeking to obtain approval of vocational training programs for purposed tuition awards to veterans of Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and other Eligible Combat veterans pursuant to section 669-a of the Education Law. New York State statute requires the amendment to go before The Board of Regents.
Since other state agencies have established programs for veterans, the amendment provides for those programs to be approved by the Board of Regents.
FUTURE ACTION
The Committee will present this item for approval at the February 2010 meeting of the Board of Regents.
That concludes our report.
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Milton L. Cofield, Co-Chairperson
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Harry Phillips, 3rd , Co-Chairperson