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NYSED and USDOE Updates

There have been many new announcements from both NYSED and the US DOE in recent weeks.  Below please find the links to those of greatest importance for your perusal and convenience:

1. New York State Joins Mass Insight, Five Other States, to Develop Partnership Zones to Turn Around Low Achieving Schools http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/NYJoinsPartnershipZone.html

2.  Update on Changes to 2009-10 School Year AYP Determinations for the Students with Disabilities Subgroup 

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nyc/APA/Memos/Update_on_SWD_stat_adj.html

3.  Procedures for Administering the June 2010 Regents Examination in Algebra 2/Trigonometry

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/hsgen/610/algebra2trigmemo.pdf

4.  Elementary- and Intermediate-Level Testing Schedule for the 2010−11 School Year

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/schedules/2011/3-8schedule1011-021010.pdf

5.  An update on the 2009-10 and 2010-11 Grades 3-8 Testing Program

http://www.regents.nysed.gov/meetings/2010Meetings/February2010/0210emscd2.htm

6.  A Message from the New York State Education Commissioner on Homeless Students and State Assessments http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/Feb2010message_homeless_students_assessments.html

7.  Attachment A: Persistently Lowest-Achieving Schools http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/attacha_jan2010.html

8.  Education Commissioner Announces 57 Schools Identified as “Persistently Lowest Achieving” and Eligible for New Funding for Turnaround; Schools to be Focus of Race to the Top and School Improvement Efforts

http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/PersistentlyLowAchiev2010.html 

9.  U.S. Department of Education Opens Race to the Top Competition  http://www2.ed.gov/print/news/pressreleases/2009/11/11122009.html

2008 Edition of the Physical Setting/Earth Science Performance Test

Updates were made to the 2008 Edition of the Physical Setting/Earth Science Performance Test to incorporate the changes made to the reference tables found in the 2010 Reference Tables for Physical Setting/ Earth Science. There were no other changes made to the performance test other than the tables.

Schools will be receiving the 2008 Edition (Revised 2010) Physical Setting/Earth Science Performance Test this week in the nonsecure shipment of test materials. Securely destroy any copies of the previous 2008 Edition of the performance test.

Please share this information with the superintendents in your districts.

An e-mail communication about the provision of the revised performance test will soon be sent to the principals of all schools that requested this examination for the January 2010 examination period.

June 2010 Regents Examination Schedule

The final June 2010 Regents Examination Schedule can be found at:

http://emsc.nysed.gov/osa/sched.html. It is also posted on the resources page.

The Department’s primary consideration in developing the June 2010 Regents Examination Schedule was to create a schedule as conducive as possible to student achievement. The feedback we have received from our colleagues has helped the Department meet this goal to the greatest extent possible.

Leading to Learning - School Building Leader Certification: A Partnership Between Pace University and Dutchess BOCES

Algebra 2/Trigonometry

The State Education Department has posted on its web site the

Regents Examination in Algebra 2/Trigonometry Test Sampler. This Test

Sampler consists of examples of the types of questions, the formatting,

and the scoring guides that are being developed for the examination. It

may be duplicated for classroom instruction and can be accessed on the

Department’s web site at:

http://emsc.nysed.gov/osa/mathre/algebra2trigonometrysampler.pdf

http://emsc.nysed.gov/osa/mathre/algebra2trigonometryscoringsampler.pdf

Also available on the Department web site is the Mathematics Core

Curriculum for Algebra 2/Trigonometry. All questions on the Regents

Examination in Algebra 2/Trigonometry are based on this core curriculum.

You may access the Mathematics Core Curriculum for Algebra

2/Trigonometry at:

http://emsc.nysed.gov/osa/hsgen/mathcore-05/mc-trig-05.pdf

College Deans and Career Placement Counselors

Mid-Hudson Cooperative Recruitment is hosting a meeting with College Deans and Career Placement Counselors.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 10th from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Dutchess BOCES, CTI, Room 301.  Lunch will be provided.

Representatives from Dutchess Community College, Fordham University, Marist College, Mount Saint Mary College, Pace University, SUNY New Paltz and Western Connecticut State University have already confirmed their attendance.  Additional colleges will very likely send representatives.

If you have not already done so, please let Renee Gremillot know if you will be able to join us for this meeting (email: renee.gremillot@dcboces.org, phone: 845-486-8086).

Application for Title I ARRA

The Application for Title I ARRA is now posted on the following sites:

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nyc/TitleI/ARRA/

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nclb/

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nclb/consolidatedappupdate/

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/nyc/TitleI/

ERAC Meeting Structure

After listening carefully to each of your comments and suggestions at our meeting last Thursday and reflecting upon our many previous discussions, I recommend the formal adoption of the following meeting format:

·               The first hour to be devoted to the host district for sharing a program, project, innovation or area of study/research/interest and then time for reflection and discussion.

·               The second hour to be devoted to a deep, targeted discussion of a particular area or topic of mutual concern supported by our mission statement (i.e., co-teaching, balanced literacy, assessment, data analysis, differentiated accountability, etc.).

·               A concluding thirty minute period to be devoted to Dutchess BOCES led discussion with the council regarding “business” and the logistics of planning.  This implies that there will be implementation needs revealed as a result of our sharing and discussions.

There seems to be little disagreement as to what our mission really is or needs to be.  While there will always be discussion about the “language” of our formal statement, the sentiment is clearly shared.  We care deeply about teaching and learning in our county.  We believe in our collective knowledge and acknowledge our collective responsibility as educational leaders to continually improve, build, and serve. We agree that we can collectively accomplish more than we can individually.

To do this, please consider contributing to our ERAC Blog, commenting on the Mission Statement, posting a discussion thread, or reading your colleagues comments. The web address for our blog is http://erac.mariner.dcboces.org.

We can make our Educational Resources Advisory Council a productive collaboration!

Please find our monthly list of locations for 2009-2010 under the resources tab. Thank you to all who so generously volunteered to host meetings.

Common Core State Standards Initiative

NEW! Common Core State Standards Initiative
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governor’s Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices have convened a State-led process to develop common core national standards in English language arts and in mathematics. Governor David Paterson and former Commissioner Richard Mills signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) along with forty-nine states and territories to participate in the national dialogue to develop these voluntary standards. The common core standards initiative is centered on creating common learning standards (what students should know and be able to do as a result of instruction) in mathematics and ELA. The current ELA revision work under the Board of Regents Standards Review Initiative will continue as a parallel track with the national standards dialogue. New York’s participation in these parallel tracks will bring together the research, scholarship, and expertise necessary to ensure world class standards for all New York students. To learn more about the common core standards initiative, please see the following website: http://www.corestandards.org/ . For more information on the New York State Standards Review Initiative please see http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/standardsreview/.

Welcome Back!

The 2009-2010 school year is upon us, and we would like to welcome each of you back.  As we all know, it has been a busy, yet fruitful summer.

I think it is safe to say that we can expect this to be a year of change. As you are aware, we now have a new Education Commissioner, Dr. David Milton Steiner in the New York State Education Department, the NYS grade 3-8 testing has been moved to May, the new ELA standards are in the works, the new Differentiated Accountability system is in effect, and regulatory requirements continue to change.

Here in Educational Resources we have experienced change as well.  We are the recipients of the new Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center which will provide a whole new level of support to administrators, teachers, and students in our region.  In addition, we have changed our Substitute Calling Software to Aesop.  This new system not only provides additional access for building and district level administrators in our service, but also has the ability to integrate with My Learning Plan and your finance management systems. There are a great many new faces in the Educational Resources Division, and we look forward to continued growth as we continue to strive to offer more efficient and effective services to meet your growing needs.

As this year progresses we are excited to work with you to continue to provide cost-effective and collaborative services in support of our Dutchess County students, faculties, administrators, and staff members.  We wish you each a successful and exciting 2009-2010 school year.