State Education Commissioner Richard Mills paid tribute to NYSUT members and their union for leading the charge to close the achievement gap.
He thanked NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi for keeping his promise to push the issue to the top of the agenda.
"We're entering a new chapter in this campaign to raise achievement," Mills said. "For the first time we have a crystal clear picture of graduation rates and it's not the picture we want."
With only two-thirds of students graduating from high school in four years, there needs to be a sense of urgency, Mills said. The four-year graduation rates are even more daunting for English language learners (30 percent); students with disabilities (37 percent), Latinos (40 percent) and African-Americans (43.3 percent).
Mills urged the crowd to support the Regents' plan to beef up early education. He received strong applause as he called for universal pre-kindergarten; full-day kindergarten; and lowering the compulsory school age from 6 years to 5 years. He also called for the Legislature and governor to repair the "dysfunctional" state aid system.
Mills said the Regents are considering a wide range of actions to raise achievement, such as setting minimum attendance and graduation rates. The education-policy setting board is also considering changes to school safety regulations to improve data collection on violent incidents and anti-violence enforcement.
"We need to ensure safety so students can concentrate on learning and teachers can concentrate on teaching," Mills said, to much applause. He emphasized the performance gap is not limited to big cities or high schools. "It's about all students," Mills said. "It's everybody's problem."
In a Q&A session after the commissioner's speech, Carol Slotkin, a NYSUT Board member from Sullivan County, told Mills one of the best ways to close the performance gap would be to enforce Academic Intervention Services regulations. "I haven't seen State Education Department enforcement police in my district in some time," Slotkin said.
Mills said the department has issued an extensive Q&A on Academic Intervention Services but has left regulations vague to give districts flexibility. "The original design was less specific because we didn't want to impose a single solution," he said. "However, it may be time now to look at whether some ways are more successful than others." On the issue of enforcement, Mills said SED will release an analysis in July on staffing levels.
Syracuse TA President Kate McKenna urged Mills to take a closer look at promotional practices and consider mandatory AIS for students.
Yonkers FT President Pat Puleo urged the commissioner to "be a little more aggressive" in pushing big-city mayors to adequately fund education.
"The arena for funding is the executive and the Legislature," Mills said. "The Regents and I pushed hard for $1.5 billion in more aid and we got $1.1 billion."
When time ran out and there were still delegates waiting at microphones, NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi urged audience members to e-mail questions to Mills via NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira.
PICTURED: Suzanne Jordan of the Kingston TF urges SED Commissioner Richard Mills to stop the state's standardized testing of students who are two or more grade levels behind their peers.