HIGHlights

Managing the Review of Teacher Certification Applications

Anticipating the February 2 onset of new teacher certification standards, candidates flooded the Office of Teaching Initiatives with applications as they sought to qualify for certification under the old standards. Generally, the Office processes applications in the order in which they are received, but it understands the need for flexibility when applicants have a solid offer of employment.

To address the needs of school districts, the Office expedites processing for applicants who have received an offer of employment. These applicants may ask the Superintendent of Schools in the district of their job offer to contact the Office and request "expedited service" and an immediate evaluation for certification. School district superintendents and chief school officers have the appropriate contact information. For candidates offered paid employment in a certified position in a New York City public school, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) may request an expedited review. In that case, the school administrator works through the Regional Personnel Manager to request the NYCDOE to contact the Office.

This one-time influx of applications presents a challenge, but steps such as expedited reviews and the ongoing re-engineering of certification processes are helping to manage the current situation and pave the way for long-term enhancements.

Alerts System

The current Homeland Security alert levels are highlighted on the home pages of the State Education Department and its Office of Higher Education. In addition, the Department maintains an e-mail system to immediately relay changes in alert levels to the field, as identified by the appropriate Department Office. For example, higher education representatives will be contacted via the Deputy Commissioner's general e-mail address.

In the event of a change to the nation's terror alert level, the Office immediately notifies Presidents, Chancellors or Chief Executive Officers of colleges, universities, and proprietary institutions across New York State via the e-mail system. The notice is also posted on the Office Web site, and it includes the following elements:

• recommended security precautions
• a link to Department of State overseas travel advisories (for institutions planning student trips)
• information on how to report unusual or suspicious activity to the State's counter-terrorism tips hotline

Supporting Teachers: A Sampler of Three OHE Programs

Talented educators help students excel, but teaching is challenging work. In different ways, three Office of Higher Education programs offer professional development opportunities for teachers--and produce results:

• The Teacher Opportunity Corps (TOC) focuses on novice and prospective teachers, with the aim of improving the ability to address the learning needs of at-risk students and of increasing the number of historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged individuals who become teachers. Pre-service teachers in a TOC project receive support services such as counseling, academic advising, and specialized coursework to help them work successfully with at-risk students.
  
  
• Tech Prep, a Perkins III/VTEA program, provides professional development for in-service teachers. Teachers work in cooperation with their collegiate counterparts to develop and present curricula that blend academic knowledge with the skills required by business and industry. Professional development activities (e.g., job shadowing, summer internships) provide experiences that teachers then use to enhance curriculum and teaching strategies.
  
  
• Authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act, the Teacher/Leader Quality Partnerships (TLQP) program awards grants to partnerships consisting of an institution of higher education and its teacher education division, a college (or division) of arts and sciences, and at least one high-need school or school district. These partners work together to design and implement intensive, sustained professional development programs that will help both pre-service and in-service teachers and school administrators meet the needs of their students. The professional development offered by TLQP projects always centers on a core academic subject that is taught in the schools: English, reading, language arts, math, sciences, foreign languages, the arts, or the five major areas of high school social studies.

Nurse Survey Reports Available Online

Among other strategies to address a critical shortage of nurses, the Regents Blue Ribbon Task Force on the Future of Nursing had recommended that stakeholders improve data collection and develop a reliable, centralized source of data to inform policymakers, educators, employers, and others. The Education Department's resulting large-scale randomized survey of registered nurses, distributed in 2002, captured the characteristics, attributes, and expectations of New York's nurses.  In fall 2003, the Department released the survey results and analysis in three comprehensive volumes:

• Volume I (Regents report with link to full PDF volume) focuses on basic demographic characteristics, education, employment status, salaries, and the nursing supply.
• Volume II (Regents report with link to full PDF volume) analyzes the types of organizational climate factors affecting nurses, the impact of these factors on staff turnover, and nurses' support for a variety of policy initiatives.  
• Volume III (PDF volume) provides an in-depth analysis of in-patient hospital staff RNs.

For more information about the survey, the nursing shortage, and related activities, write Barbara Zittel, Executive Secretary to the New York State Board of Nursing, at nursebd@mail.nysed.gov or phone (518) 474-3817, extension 120.

SUNY Teacher Education Program Assessment Project

The 15 colleges and universities in the State University of New York that prepare new teachers are collaborating with SUNY System Institutional Research and the State Education Department to develop, implement and enhance their campus assessment systems to improve teacher education programs and beginning teacher competency. The three-year project is supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). Dr. Suzanne Weber, Associate Dean of the School of Education at SUNY Oswego, and Dr. John Porter, Associate Provost for SUNY System Institutional Research, co-direct the project.

Some of the project's activities benefit all institutions with teacher education programs in New York State. For more information, visit the project's Web site at www.oswego.edu/education/tepa/index.html.

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)

The Office of Higher Education has led the State Education Department's efforts to comply with Federal teacher quality standards in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. We continue to provide guidance at www.highered.nysed.gov/nclbhome.htm and to respond to questions that are sent to NCLBNYS@mail.nysed.gov.