Report of Regents P-12 Education Committee to The Board of Regents

Your P-12 Education Committee held its scheduled meeting on December 14, 2015.  All members were present except for Regent Bendit, who was excused.

ACTION ITEMS

Appeal of Scores for the Safety Net Local Diploma for Students with Disabilities [P-12 (A) 1]

Your Committee recommends that that clause (c) of subparagraph (i) of paragraph (7) of subdivision (d) of section 100.5 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education be added, as submitted, to extend the ability to graduate with a Local Diploma via appeal of a score of 55 to students with disabilities who meet all other conditions for appeal and are otherwise eligible to graduate in January 2016 and thereafter, effective December 30, 2015.

Revision to Charter Authorized by the Board of Regents [P-12 (A) 2]

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents finds that: (1) the charter school meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) the charter school can demonstrate the ability to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; (3) granting the request to revise the charter is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law; and (4) granting the request to revise the charter would have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the charter school, and the Board of Regents therefore approves the charter revision for Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School and amends the provisional charter accordingly.

Initial Application and Charter Authorized by the Board of Regents [P-12 (A) 3]

Your Committee recommends that the Regents find that: (1) the proposed charter school meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) the applicant can demonstrate the ability to operate the school in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; (3) granting the application is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law; and (4) granting the application will have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the charter school, and the Board of Regents therefore approves and issues a charter and provisional charter to the Growing Up Green Charter School II for a term of five years in accordance with §2851(2)(p) of the Education Law.

Merger of KIPP Infinity Charter School and KIPP Always Mentally Prepared Charter School [P-12 (A) 4] 

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents finds that: (1) KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools meets the requirements set out in Article 56 of the Education Law, and all other applicable laws, rules and regulations; (2) KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools can demonstrate the ability to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner; (3) granting the request to revise the charter is likely to improve student learning and achievement and materially further the purposes set out in subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred fifty of Article 56 of the Education Law; and (4) granting the request to revise the charter would have a significant educational benefit to the students expected to attend the schools operated by KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools, and the Board of Regents therefore approves the charter revision for KIPP NYC Public Charter Schools and amends the provisional charter accordingly.

Transition Ratings for Teachers and Building Principals During the Transition to Higher Standards [P-12 (A) 5]

Your Committee recommends that sections 30-2.14 and 30-3.17 of the Rules of the Board of Regents be added, effective December 31, 2015, as an emergency measure upon a finding by the Board of Regents that such action is necessary for the preservation of the general welfare in order to timely implement the recommendations of the New York Common Core Task Force Report, by ensuring that State assessments aligned to the Common Core do not have consequences and that they only be used on an advisory basis for teachers and principals.  The motion to approve was passed, Chancellor Tisch opposed.  Questions concerning the amended regulation should be sent to the Regents Office for dissemination to staff. 

MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD

Madam Chancellor and Colleagues: Your P-12 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 December 15, 2015, copies of which have been distributed to each Regent. 

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

Review of Governor’s Common Core Task Force Recommendations – Commissioner Elia provided an overview of the twenty-one recommendations of the Governor’s Common Core Task Force.  Specific actions that have been or will be taken by the Board of Regents and the Department were also discussed.  Recommendation #21 states that until the new system is fully phased in (or until the start of the 2019-2020 school year), the results from assessments aligned to the current Common Core Standards, as well as the updated standards, shall only be advisory and not be used to evaluate the performance of individual teachers or students.  The Regents took action on this recommendation at today’s meeting by approving an emergency regulatory action to implement Transition Ratings for Teachers and Principals (see item [P-12 (A) 5]).

2014-2015 Statewide Evaluation Results – the Committee was provided with State-provided growth results for principals and teachers, statewide composite HEDI results for teachers and principals, and a comparison of New York City ratings vs. rest of state.

Regents Exams Workgroup [P-12 (D) 2] – The Regents Exams Workgroup was convened in September 2015 at the direction of the Board of Regents. The workgroup was to advise the Regents on several technical and policy issues surrounding score interpretation and reporting for the Common Core Regents Exams.  The Workgroup met and identified five issues that they would like to continue to discuss and likely make recommendations to the Regents on at future meetings.  The Workgroup requested that Department staff gather information to be brought to their next meeting including Regents Exam results data, previous research studies, and technical overviews of the Regents Exam program.  The group will continue to meet over the next several months and will draft recommendations.  Committee members requested that the names and districts of the Workgroup members be posted on engageNY.

Online Learning Advisory Council [P-12 (D) 3] – The Committee was updated on the work of the Online Learning Advisory Council and was provided with an overview of the recommendations.  Scott Bischoping, District Superintendent of the Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES, and Dr. David O’Rourke, District Superintendent of the Erie 2-Chautuaqua-Cattaraugus BOCES presented the update and answered questions from Committee members.  The major recommendations from the Council were: that the Legislature and Governor allocate $100 million to support multiyear professional development grants; that the Board of Regents, Legislature and Governor grant authority to the NYS Education Commissioner to provide certain waivers of regulations to support Innovation Networks; that the state adequately staff and support NYSED’s Education Technology capacity and resources; and that higher education systems develop teacher preservice experiences in online and blended learning.

AIMHighNY Survey [P-12 (D) 4] – The AIMHighNY survey was a tool used by the Department to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders (parents, educators, communities) that allowed users to provide feedback on the ELA and mathematics Common Core Learning Standards.  The survey had thousands of comments and recommendations, with the largest percentage of the feedback coming from classroom teachers.  Going forward, the Department plans to pursue a transparent and wide-ranging stakeholder engagement strategy to make revisions to the standards including initial development of specific recommended revisions; gathering feedback on initial recommendations via statewide stakeholder engagement; and development of final suggested revisions.  A draft timeline will be released to the public outlining the steps the Department intends to take to ensure a gradual and thoughtful transition to new standards.

Overview of Non-public Schools – The Committee was provided with an overview of non-public schools including information on statutes relating to compulsory attendance and voluntary high school registration.

Consent Agenda

The Board of Regents will take action on the following consent agenda items at their December 15, 2015 meeting.

• Regulations relating to Academic Intervention Services
• Regulations relating to Transition to Common Core-aligned Regents Examinations in Mathematics (Algebra II)
• Regulations relating to School Receivership