Report of Regents Audits/Budget and Finance Committee to The Board of Regents

Your ACCES Committee held its scheduled meeting on October 21, 2013. All members were present, with the exception of Regent Norwood, who was excused.

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

Institutional Challenges to Preparing Adults for the new High School Equivalency (HSE) Exam – The Committee was provided a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing adult education programs as they prepare their students for the new High School Equivalency exam which begins in January 2014. Panel Members included: Suri Duitch, University Dean for Continuing Education and Deputy to the Senior University Dean for Academic Affairs, CUNY; Dan White, District Superintendent, Monroe 1 BOCES; Timothy Lisante, Superintendent, Program for Young Adults, NYC Department of Education; and, Echo Shumaker-Pruitt, Interim Co-Executive Director/Director of Adult Education, Highbridge Community Life Center. The panel discussed some of the challenges including limited resources to support alternative and adult education teachers with training in the new Common Core Learning Standards, limited funding to purchase equipment needed to take the new test, and the ability to introduce a more complex content to a diverse student population. The Board of Regents supports the need for additional state and federal resources needed to assure that greater numbers of students in alternative and adult education programs receive the instruction they need and required to demonstrate college and career readiness by passing the Test Assessment of Secondary Completion and earning the Regents’ High school Equivalency diploma.