Dear Colleagues,

On September 11, the New York State Museum opened a new exhibition entitled "The Family Room at One Liberty Plaza - World Trade Center Site," which includes personal remembrances, photographs, and tributes from the Family Room at the World Trade Center site. New Yorkers reflect on the new exhibition in the accompanying video.

Sincerely,

John B. King, Jr.

Commissioner

Follow me on Twitter @JohnKingNYSED

This month, the New York State Board of Regents announced that Charles Giglio has been named the 2015 New York State Teacher of the Year. Giglio, a Latin teacher at the Gloversville Enlarged School District in Gloversville, NY, was presented with a certificate of recognition by Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch and Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. Giglio was also presented with the Thomas Sobol Award and the David Johnson Award, both created as annual gifts for recipients of the Teacher of the Year award.

Giglio, the 45th New York State Teacher of the Year, has been teaching in the Gloversville Enlarged School District for nine years. One of his significant accomplishments was to single handedly increase enrollment in the Latin program after just his first semester teaching in the district. He currently teaches Latin for grades 8-12, while holding permanent New York State Certifications in Elementary Education, Secondary English and Latin. Giglio also holds New York State certifications as a School Building Administrator and School District Administrator.

A new exhibition that honors those lost in the September 11,  2001 World Trade Center attacks opened on September 11, 2014 at the New York State Museum, a program of the New York State Education Department. The Family Room at One Liberty Plaza - World Trade Center Site includes personal remembrances, photographs, and tributes from the Family Room at the World Trade Center site. The Family Room was established as a private place for families to remember their loved ones killed in the 2001 attacks. Contents from the Family Room were transferred this summer to the State Museum.

Anita Brown, a Brooklyn education advocate and grandmother of seven, believes her grandchildren can reach for the stars by working hard to meet the Common Core Learning Standards.

New York parents share how their children are making progress and becoming better prepared for college and careers with the Common Core Learning Standards.

In July 2014, NYSED's Office of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness brought together more than 40 Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness (STLE) districts for the Engage-Envision-Elevate Conference. The STLE grant is part of the Board of Regents' comprehensive statewide strategy to support the continuous improvement of every educator with special emphasis on supporting high-need students, improving learning of English language learners and students with disabilities, advancing student learning in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines, and improving the equitable distribution of highly effective teachers and leaders. Through the STLE grants, strong school leaders, working collaboratively with empowered teachers, are accomplishing great things across our State.

A comprehensive toolkit was developed that contains work and downloadable resources from national experts, districts across the nation, and, most importantly, tools and resources from our local STLE districts. The full toolkit is available here.

 

In addition, presentation slide decks and videos from each conference session are now available. These materials include Commissioner King's keynote address, Assistant Commissioner Julia Rafal-Baer's framing of the work that has been done around teacher and leader effectiveness through STLE, and full length videos of each training session. Complete session materials are available here.

During the 2013-14 school year, the second year of full Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) implementation, teachers and leaders of districts and BOCES worked to set ambitious and rigorous academic targets for students using the Student Learning Objective (SLO) process. The development and use of SLOs to inform instructional decisions and improve instructional practice is an evolving process, and NYSED is proud to share the progression of work demonstrated by educators from across the State.

The annotated SLO Field Samples from Year 2 Implementation (2013-2014) expand upon the grade levels and content areas represented in past examples such as the SLO Field Samples from Pilot (2011-2012) and the SLO Field Samples from Year 1 Implementation (2012-2013). The samples are posted here.