Report of Regents Higher Education Committee to The Board of Regents

Your Higher Education Committee held its scheduled meeting on February 10, 2015

Action Items

Approval of Distance Education Across State Lines:  State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA).  
Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approve the Department moving forward with legislative language to be included in the package of Departmental legislative proposals being submitted for consideration by the Legislature.

Proposed Amendments to Section 80-1.6 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education to Extend the Time Validity of an Expired Initial, Transitional and/or Conditional  Initial Certificate for Up to One Additional Year If a Candidate Took One of the Revised Content Specialty Tests (CSTs) Required and Did Not Receive a Score During a Timeframe Prescribed by the Commissioner. 
Your Committee recommends that subdivision (c) of section 80-1.6 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education be amended, as submitted, effective February 10, 2015, for the preservation of the general welfare in order to ensure that teachers, who have taken one of the revised CSTs administered on or after September 2014 that is required for their certificate title but have not received a score from the Department on their revised CST, receive a time extension of up to one year on their expired certificate to ensure that they do not lose their certification and/or employment. It is anticipated that the proposed amendment will be adopted by the Board of Regents as a permanent rule at its April 2015 meeting.  If adopted at the April 2015 meeting, the proposed amendment will become effective April 29, 2015.

Renewal of Institutional Accreditation: Institute of Design and Construction.
Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents deny accreditation of the Institute of Design and Construction.

MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD
Madam Chancellor and Colleagues: Your Higher Education Committee recommends, and we move, that the Board of Regents act affirmatively upon each recommendation in the written report of the Committee’s deliberations at its meeting on February 10, 2015, copies of which have been distributed to each member of the Board of Regents.

Other matters not requiring action:

Change to Federal Regulations Regarding Teacher Preparation Programs. 
Your Committee reviewed new regulations proposed by the federal government regarding teacher preparation programs. The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) has proposed new teacher preparation accountability regulations under Title II of the Higher Education Act (HEA).^[1] These regulations would require institutions of higher education (IHEs) with teacher preparation programs to report data on their website using a revised Institutional Report Card (IRC) format. The proposed regulations would require states to post a more detailed State Report Card (SRC) on the performance of teacher preparation programs, as well as potential corrective actions for low-performing or at-risk programs. These proposed regulations would also require states to establish specific indicators that would be used to assess and report on the quality of teacher preparation programs under the Title II reporting system.

Update on Higher Education Faculty Development Agreements. 
Your Committee received an update on the Year 2 achievements of the Higher Education Faculty Development Program Memoranda of Understanding with SUNY, CUNY and the respective single-source agreement with the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu). Related projects and sustainable resources created with Race to the Top funds through the Faculty Development Program projects were highlighted.