Report of Regents Adult Career and Continuing Education Services (ACCES) Committee to The Board of Regents

Your ACCES Committee held its scheduled meeting on May 19, 2015. All members were present.

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

Update on the new High School Equivalency exam – Test Assessing Secondary Completion™ (TASC) – the Committee was provided an update on the TASC™ test for High School Equivalency (HSE), which was implemented in January, 2014. Since that time, New York State began administering the TASC Forms A, B, and C. In mid-March 2015, testing on Forms A, B, and C ceased as new Forms D, E, and F were finalized for testing. Also in March 2015, CTB/McGraw-Hill launched a new computerized registration and scheduling system to help ensure accurate data collection and the equitable distribution of test forms.

In January 2015, thirty Master Teachers were trained in high-emphasis science concepts, and in March 2015, another thirty received professional development in math, which is the TASC subtest that is the most challenging for New York State examinees to pass. These Master Teachers are working with the Regional Adult Education Network center directors to provide this information and national standards training in their regions. To date, over one thousand adult education teachers have received training on instructional approaches from the Master Teachers. In addition, to support our instructors of adult education and test center administrators, SED, in conjunction with CTB-McGraw-Hill, has been providing regional training and informational webinars and communicating with test centers on the annual developments with the TASC test.

Overall, the first year of the new HSE has been a success, however, SED continues to face challenges in supporting this new, more rigorous national test that measures career/college readiness standards.