What's New |
Universal Pre-Kindergarten Regulations In May, the Board of Regents approved emergency regulatory amendments to establish uniform quality standards across settings and to ensure that pre-kindergarten programs have a strong instructional component. The regulations will come before the Regents again in July for a second emergency action to ensure that they remain in effect until they can be brought before the Regents for permanent adoption in September. The amendments will be published in the State Register; the public comment period will end on July 30. Additional information is available on the Board of Regents web site at http://www.regents.nysed.gov under materials for the May Regents meeting. In advance of this action, seven workshops were convened across the State to provide information and assistance to school districts receiving additional funding in the 2007-08 budget for universal pre-kindergarten programs. Special thanks to those of you who participated in the workshops and shared valuable feedback and recommendations that helped to inform the regulations that were approved by the Regents. Districts intending to implement additional or new pre-kindergarten programs must complete an application and submit it to the Office of Grants Management by July 16, 2007. This application can be found at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/deputy/Documents/funding-opport.htm. Instructional Computer Hardware In May, the Board of Regents adopted amendments to Commissioner's Regulations on an emergency basis to comply with the Laws of 2007 relating to instructional computer hardware for nonpublic schools. The regulation provides for the loan of instructional computer hardware from public school districts to nonpublic school students and establishes procedures for the loan of instructional computer hardware and the process for meeting the planning requirement. The regulations will come before the Regents again in July for a second emergency action to ensure that they remain in effect until they can be brought before the Regents for permanent adoption in September. The amendments will be published in the State Register and the public comment period for these amendments will end on July 30. Additional information on the amendments can be found on the Board of Regents web site at http://www.regents.nysed.gov under materials for the May Regents meeting. Draft Guidance on Contracts for Excellence In April, the Board of Regents adopted amendments to Commissioner's Regulations on an emergency basis concerning the requirement for certain school districts to prepare Contracts for Excellence, as enacted in the State budget for school year 2007-08. Public comments on these amendments are welcome through July 2. We have received numerous comments to date and they have been invaluable in helping us to draft additional guidance on the implementation of the Contracts for Excellence. Additional information on the Contracts as well as draft guidance for completing the Contracts will be accessible at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov. Green Cleaning Product Update In response to questions raised by school districts about the use of disinfecting and sanitizing products and antibacterial soaps in schools, the Department has issued a field memorandum that provides questions and answers on hand sanitizing products and hand cleaners/soaps. The field memorandum is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/facplan/. The questions and answers were developed by the Education Department, the Department of Health, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of Labor, and the Office of General Services. Additional information on the legislation relating to the use of environmentally sensitive cleaning products in public and nonpublic schools is available at http://www.ogs.state.ny.us/bldgadmin/environmental/s5435.pdf. 2007-08 Elementary and Intermediate-Level State Assessments Schedules The Department has issued a field memorandum with the elementary and intermediate-level testing schedule for the 2007-08 school year. It is available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/schedules/ele07-08.pdf. Home and Careers Skills Resource A new web page has been established dedicated to middle-level education and the Home and Careers Skills course. It is comprehensive and offers resources for middle-level administrators and teachers. The site is accessible at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/cte/facse/middle. Links to other information related to Family and Consumer Sciences are available at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/cte/facse. Physical Education Profile The New York State Physical Education Profile is a set of State-developed local assessments that may be used to provide evidence of the levels of student achievement for the physical education portion of the New York State learning standards for health, physical education, and family and consumer sciences (1996). The Profile is to be used at the discretion of local school districts to provide evidence for physical education. For further information, please visit http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/EBlasts/InfoSheets/onepage-DSInfoonProfle.doc . New York State National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) Examinations Representatives of the District Superintendents, the Department’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) team and the Office of State Assessment, along with an advisory group of CTE administrators from across the State, collaborated over the past several months on a study of the relationship between CTE student classroom success and CTE student performance on NOCTI technical assessments. Results of this study led to a policy change in the designation of cut scores approved by New York State for NOCTI examinations. The national average will not be used as the New York State cut score for NOCTI examinations administered in the 2006-2007 school year. Instead, specific New York State-approved cut scores have been determined for NOCTI assessments. Technical endorsement decisions based on results of NOCTI technical assessments should be made using the State-approved cut scores which are posted at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/cte/. Exploring Strategies for Improving Agricultural Education in Our Schools Teachers of agricultural education from school districts and Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) and some faculty from postsecondary institutions involved in agricultural education recently gathered in Albany to explore strategies for improving agricultural education in our schools. The meeting was a collaborative endeavor of the Department and Cornell University’s Office of Agricultural Outreach and Education. Patricia Hodgins, Co-Team Leader for the SED Career and Technical Education Team, provided information on the Regents policy for career and technical education (CTE). The presentation covered policy provisions, roles and responsibilities for school districts and BOCES, and the program approval process. This initiated a discussion on strategies for improving the participation of school districts and BOCES in approved CTE programs. Perry Dewey, director of the Agricultural Outreach and Education Program, gave a presentation on “Building Agriculture from the Grassroots,” which included an overview of the activities of the Agriculture-in the-Classroom (AITC) Program. The AITC builds agricultural literacy among children, especially those in grade schools, and promotes their participation in basic school-based agricultural programs. Regents: Action | Discussion | |