Putting Students First Education Action Plan New NY Education Reform Commission Preliminary Recommendations www.NYPuttingStudentsFirst.com 1 2 Dear Governor Cuomo: On behalf of my fellow members, I am pleased to present the New NY Education Reform Commission’s recommendations for an initial Action Plan to improve student achievement in the Empire State. The Commission’s !rst priority was to collect data in order to provide you with evidence-based recommendations that will improve student performance and outcomes. In other words, it was imperative to address these complex issues based on facts, not ideology or conjecture. To achieve this goal, we set out on an extensive listening tour across the State, visiting each of New York’s diverse regions. We had the opportunity to hear from parents, students, teachers, experts, and other stakeholders. As you requested, the Commission asked for solution-oriented testimony so that we could replicate successful models from New York and beyond to better meet the educational needs of our students, enhance our shared economic future, and improve accountability to New York State’s taxpayers. One of the things we found – and it was no surprise to us – is that there are many, many things right with public schools in New York. Everywhere we found examples of excellent schools, teachers, and student performance. But, this is hardly a uniform condition throughout the State, particularly in New York’s communities of greatest need. The problem New York confronts, we concluded, is how to replicate these examples of excellence in every school district in New York; how do we create a statewide system of public education that ensures that every child will have the opportunity to get an education that will enable them to achieve their true potential? As was underscored by the many hours of testimony we heard, this is a complex challenge and one that cannot be met through a single, grand, master stroke. Addressing this challenge will require signi!cant and di"cult changes to current policies and practices, renewed dedication on the part of administrators, teachers and students, and the active buy-in and support of a broad set of other stakeholders, including parents and community leaders. But it can be done! The Commission took the information we gathered and developed a coherent, comprehensive set of recommendations that we believe will drive a uni!ed State-level system and improve results for New York’s students. In this !rst of two Action Plans, the Commission is making a set of recommendations that will put New York on a path toward a more excellent and equitable approach to meeting the educational needs of all of our children. In making these recommendations, we acknowledge that this is just the beginning. There is much more work to be done. However, we believe the recommendations contained in this preliminary Action Plan, if implemented, will have a profound impact on our State’s education system and will set us !rmly on the road to ultimate success. The Commission aims to propose recommendations that are built upon system coherence at all levels and incorporate three major themes: alignment, access, and quality. First, New York’s education system should be viewed as one aligned system, a seamless pipeline that supports a student from the earliest days of pre-kindergarten through college and then career. Our recommendations are aimed at making transitions between di#erent parts of the system uninterrupted and making the whole system more e"cient. Second, the system must improve access to critical educational experiences for students, such as e#ective teachers and leaders, innovative technology, and quality early learning. Third, the Commission focused on ensuring a high bar for quality, guaranteeing that investments made in the education system are evidence-based and premised on an expectation for results. The Commission shares your sense of urgency in reforming the State’s education system to ensure that our students receive the best education possible in order to enable them to enjoy successful and productive lives. As you have directed, we will continue our work on this all-important issue and will report back to you with our !nal Action Plan in September 2013. In the interim, we stand ready and able to help with respect to implementation of the recommendations contained in our preliminary Action Plan. We look forward with enthusiasm to our continued partnership to improve the quality of education across the State. Sincerely, Richard D. Parsons Chairman of the New NY Education Reform Commission 3 4 Table of Contents Executive Summary ..............................................................................................................................................................11 The New NY Education Reform Commission’s Action Plan ..................................................................................13 Part 1. Strengthen the Academic Pipeline from Pre-kindergarten through College .........14 Part 2. Great Educators Enable Great Students .................................................................................17 1 The Commission’s Review and Analysis of New York’s Education System ........................................23 2 The New NY Education Reform Commission’s Action Plan .....................................................................35 3 Looking Ahead ..........................................................................................................................................................71 Appendices: Appendix I Commission Members .................................................................................................................................73 Appendix II NY Commission Recommendations by Theme..................................................................................85 Appendix III Regional Public Hearings Held by the New NY Education Reform Commission .........87 Appendix IV Executive Order Establishing the New NY Education Reform Commission ...........................89 5 6 Members of the New NY Education Reform Commission Richard D. Parsons, Chair of the New NY Education Reform Commission, Senior Advisor, Providence Equity Partners, LLC Lisa Belzberg, Founder & Chair Emeritus, PENCIL Geo!rey Canada, Founder & CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone Jessica Cohen, Retired Superintendent, Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES Jean Desravines, CEO, New Leaders Elizabeth Dickey, President, Bank Street College of Education Stanley Druckenmiller, Former Chairman & President, Duquesne Capital Senator John Flanagan, Chair, Senate Education Committee Patti Gallagher, Lake Placid School Board Member & Lake Placid Community Alliance for Responsible Excellence in Education (C.A.R.E.E) Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, City University of New York Karen Hawley Miles, President & Executive Director, Education Resource Strategies Michael Horn, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Innosight Institute Thomas Kane, Professor of Education & Economics, Harvard Graduate School of Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr., New York State Education Department Eduardo Martí, Retired, Vice Chancellor of Community Colleges, City University of New York Sara Mead, Partner, Bellwether Education Partners Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, Chair, Assembly Education Committee Michael Rebell, Executive Director, Campaign for Educational Equity, and Professor of Law and Educational Practice, Teachers College, Columbia University Carrie Remis, Executive Director, Parent Power Project José Luis Rodríguez, Founder & CEO, Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN) Mary Anne Schmitt-Carey, President, Say Yes to Education Sandy Weill, Former CEO & Chairman, Citigroup Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO Irma Zardoya, President & CEO, NYC Leadership Academy Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, State University of New York Education Commission Sta! Jim Malatras Katie Campos Sta! Director Commission Coordinator Deputy Secretary of Policy Management Assistant Secretary for Education De’Shawn Wright Ian Rosenblum Deputy Secretary for Education Director of Policy Coordination Lonnie Threatte Amanda Hiller Assistant Secretary for Higher Education Department of Taxation and Finance David Wright Juliette Price Assistant Commissioner, Senior Advisor for Economic Policy O"ce of Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher Empire State Development State University of New York Cara Palumbo Schrantz Division of Budget, Education Unit Sta! Assistant Counsel 7 8 Background on the New NY Education Reform Commission’s Process High quality education, focused on the needs of students, is the key to both strengthening New York’s communities and expanding our State’s economy. A quality education will provide our most disadvantaged students with a pathway out of poverty and into a productive life by providing them with the skills they need to meet the challenges of the 21st century global economy. In April 2012, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo convened the New NY Education Reform Commission. Through the Commission, the Governor brought together leaders from across the state and from diverse perspectives. They focused on a shared objective: developing an actionable course of reforms – based on proven models of success from within New York as well as other states and nations – that will provide the level of educational excellence that all New York’s school children deserve, that our State’s future economy demands, and that our taxpayers can a!ord. The Commission was tasked with performing