Meeting of the Board of Regents | October 2009

Report of the

REGENTS EMSC COMMITTEE

to

The Board of Regents

October 19, 2009

              Your EMSC Committee held its scheduled meeting on October 19, 2009.  All Committee members were present except for Regents Bottar, Cohen and Dawson who were excused.   

ACTION ITEMS

Charter Schools

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves the revision to the initial charter of the Leadership Preparatory Brownsville Charter School as proposed by the Trustees of the State University of New York, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.    [EMSC (A) 1]

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves the second revision to the first renewal charter of the Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.  [EMSC (A) 2]

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents approves the second revision to the first renewal charter of the Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls, and the provisional charter is amended accordingly.   [EMSC (A) 3]

Action Items

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents adopt the new federal four-year adjusted graduation rate cohort definition and begin using this definition no later than the 2011-2012 school year results. Furthermore, your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents apply to the U.S. Education Department to use a five-year extended graduation rate and give schools credit for making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) as long as the school or district achieves the goal or the target(s) on either the four-year cohort or the five-year cohort.    [EMSC (A) 4]

Your Committee recommends that the Board of Regents adopt a policy on making up course credit that includes the following provisions:

• School district officials may provide various programs for students who were previously enrolled in a course but failed to demonstrate mastery of the intended course outcomes.
• A school-based panel, consisting of at least the principal, a teacher in the area for which the student must make up credit, and a guidance director (or other administrator) must approve all programs for make-up credit.
• In order to provide the appropriate program to make up failed or incomplete course credit, the panel must consider each student’s needs and course completion deficiencies.
• The program must be aligned with the Regents learning standards.
• In order to receive credit, the student must receive equivalent, intensive instruction in the deficiency areas of the course by a teacher certified in the subject area.
• The student must demonstrate mastery of the initial deficiency area(s).
• If an end-of-course Regents examination is required for graduation, the student must pass the Regents examination to fulfill the graduation requirements, and, to the extent determined by the school district, receive course credit.

[EMSC (A) 5]

MOTION FOR ACTION BY FULL BOARD

              Madam Chancellor and Colleagues:  Your EMSC 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 October 19, 2009, copies of which have been distributed to each Regent.

MATTERS NOT REQUIRING BOARD ACTION

Conversation with Lt. Governor Ravitch – The Committee was joined by Lt. Governor Richard Ravitch for a conversation about New York State’s fiscal condition and the impact of additional deficit reductions on critical services including educational programs.

That concludes our report.

                                                                                    Anthony Bottar and Merryl Tisch       

                                                                                    Co-Chairs