New York State Teacher Centers
Teacher Center Directors Information
List of 2009-10 Teacher Center Awards
History
New York’s Teacher Resource and Computer Training Centers were established by the New York State Legislature in 1984 under Education Law 316 
(30KB). The initial appropriation of $3.5 million established 44 Teacher Centers throughout the State. The Legislature has continued to approve Teacher Center funding since that time, and has increased the overall level of appropriations. The current (2009-2010) allocation is $40 million and now supports 133 Teacher Centers, 6 Regional Networks, 5 Statewide Committees and 3 Statewide Projects
In 2008-09, New York’s Teacher Centers served 663 public school districts, 35 BOCES and over 1,000 non-public and charter schools, including 242 high need schools/districts. Nearly 300 million school and BOCES staff were served by the 133 Centers.
Teacher Centers are leading the integration of technology into curriculum and instruction in New York State. They have collaborated with teachers, districts, schools, institutions of higher education, and other education stakeholders, including several business agreements, to provide tens of thousands of professional development opportunities every year, many aligned with and/or directly supporting local school improvement goals.
Teacher Centers have also been, and continue to be, primary supporters and trainers of the development and implementation of New York’s Professional Development Plan requirement, CR 100.2(dd).
All teacher center professional development offerings are developed after significant consultation with teachers, involving surveys of teacher needs, teacher development and presentation of programs, and teacher evaluation of the effectiveness of the professional development they have received.
Statewide technology applications
Teacher Center technology-based applications provide services to educators throughout New York State:
- a searchable data base, by content area, level, key idea, and performance indicator, of thousands of lesson plans aligned to NYS Learning Standards, through ThinkfinityNY
(the successor to Marco Polo, at www.thinkfinityny.org). Teacher Centers have developed a cadre of facilitators to help teachers, schools and districts implement high-level uses of ThinkfinityNY to support student achievement; and the site is linked to SED’s Virtual Learning System (VLS). - on-line resources for program evaluation
- an on-line professional development academy
- a teacher and student resource, Regents Review live
- special technology purchase programs with Intel, SMART, Prometheus, Dell, Adobe and Apple
- instructional technology teacher training through Intel Teach
In addition, through the Teacher Center Technology Committee and the New York Institute of Technology, Teacher Centers provide web connections for conversations and sharing among statewide committees, regional networks, new directors, policy boards and other stakeholders. Teacher Center directors and staff also actively participate in the directors’ on-line message board, ‘Caucus’.
Links and contact information
Applications and Funding - per Education Law 316, no new applications can be accepted for 2009-10, since there was no increase over the 2008-09 level in the 2009-10 legislative appropriation.
Commissioner’s Regulation Part 81 (21KB)
For information about professional development opportunities and other resources provided by local or consortium Teacher Centers, contact your local Teacher Center director (click on “Directories”).
For general questions or information regarding Teacher Center purposes and activities, call the State Education Department at (518) 473-7155 or email emscprofdev@mail.nysed.gov .