1. Baseline/Trend Data
   (for reporting period July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004):

New York State (NYS) is experiencing significant shortages in special education teachers and providers, primarily in NYC where shortages of bilingual special education, school psychology, teachers of the speech and hearing handicapped, and monolingual teachers of the speech and hearing handicapped, occupational and physical therapists (OT, PT) continue to impact FAPE and is the focus of the long-standing class action Jose P. litigation. While not as acute as the NYC faculty deficit, other areas of the State report shortages of teachers of the blind/visually impaired, special education teachers, OT, PT and speech providers. The availability of qualified personnel to provide services within New York’s preschool special education segment is an area of growing concern. (See Table ECT.1 - Recruitment and Retention Initiatives.)

Teacher retention is also a concern in NYS. Recent studies indicate that about 30 percent of teachers, after starting teaching, are no longer in the State system six years later. In NYC, this figure is closer to 40 percent. Statewide, almost 34 percent of special education teachers leave the system after six years.

NYS also adopted new teacher certification requirements in 2000 that went into effect in February 2004. The new model replaces the previous K-12 special education certification with four developmental levels (early childhood, childhood, middle school, adolescence). All special education certificates require the equivalent prerequisite general education certification at the same developmental level. The intent was to ensure that special education teachers are grounded in the general education curriculum and that special education students are held to high curriculum standards. With the new Highly Qualified provisions of the 2004 IDEA reauthorization, New York is challenged to reconcile its own requirements with that of IDEA. The complexities of the two systems, when overlaid, may have the unintended impact of discouraging candidates from entering the field of special education.

New York’s trend data are based on several sources of information:

1. The Pupils with Disabilities Report #6 (PD-6) is an annual report submitted by Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and preschool providers on personnel employed and needed;

2. The Office of Teaching develops an annual report on the number of certificates issued by certification title;

3. VESID initiated an annual survey in 2003 in order to determine Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) capacity in key shortage areas;

4. NYSED’s Office of the Professions also conducted surveys of the licensed professions [OT, PT, Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP)] associated with special education provider shortages.

Collectively, these sources, in combination with ongoing input from key stakeholders, provide SED with a comprehensive insight into supply and demand needs in the State.
 

2. Targets
   (for reporting period July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004):

• Implement comprehensive strategies to aggressively address areas of teacher/provider shortages, particularly in NYC.

3. Explanation of Progress or Slippage
   (for reporting period July 1, 2003 through June 30, 2004):

• In 2003-04 and 2004-05, SED and NYCDOE continued collaboration on a Joint Action Plan to address special education personnel shortages (see Appendices 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8) with updates through February 2005). The Joint Action Plan is updated regularly and includes a separate set of activities for each shortage area. It was developed by multiple offices in NYCDOE and SED as identified in the plan. Many of the activities and strategies associated with the plan have statewide program and policy implications, including legislative proposals to address shortages and ongoing statewide surveys of teacher preparation programs in order to determine supply and demand and capacity needs. An outgrowth of the plan was the development of a detailed reporting tool, the Personnel Needs Grid (included with the joint action plan referenced above), designed to provide a summary of key strategies and initiatives associated with the Joint Plan. The “Grid” provides stakeholders with a means to evaluate the long-term impact of components of the Joint Plan. Specific activities implemented or initiated in 2003-04 include:

• Establishment of a special education recruitment team within the NYCDOE.

• Development of recruitment and outreach strategies for each area of shortages; including a direct mailing to all IHEs with teacher preparation programs from the Commissioner of Education.
   
• Expansion of NYCDOE’s scholarship program to commit funds to support appropriate numbers of candidates for each shortage area.
   
• Adoption of an online teacher recruitment program by NYCDOE.
   
• Implementation of an international recruitment strategy for NYCDOE for OT/PT providers.
   
• Development and adoption by the Board of Regents of a new “Supplementary Certificate,” which would allow teachers in a demonstrated surplus area to move into a shortage area without delays, provided that the candidates take and pass the Content Specialty Test (CST) for the new certificate area and then complete required coursework within a specified time period.
   
• Development and release of an RFP for a bilingual speech pathology and bilingual school psychology support center to be located at an IHE. This center would address numerous capacity and recruitment issues associated with those titles.
   
• Development of an agreement between the NYCDOE, SED and United Federation of Teachers (UFT) to double the current online speech pathology programs, including a bilingual component to support approximately 60 candidates per year.
   
• Development of a conceptual approach and preliminary draft regulations to establish a career pathway for licensed psychologists to become certified bilingual school psychologists.

• The IHE Survey was redesigned and issued through the Office of Higher Education as a requirement for all IHEs with teacher preparation programs in the State. The survey was expanded to clarify teacher pipeline information and includes all certification titles. The State is currently in the process of analyzing the first data submissions under the new format.

• The Bilingual Special Education Intensive Teacher Institute (BSE ITI) was continued, with emphasis on preschool and school-age bilingual shortages in general education, school psychologists, speech and paraprofessionals. The program was aligned to provide support for candidates wishing to take advantage of alternative certification routes approved by SED. The BSE ITI program provides tuition assistance and support to qualified candidates. It is administered by the Eastern Suffolk BOCES and involves 16 participating IHEs. The BSE ITI program has recently become more involved in supporting recruitment initiatives. A new activity for 2003-04 was developing a technical assistance manual, currently under review by VESID to provide guidelines for the provision of bilingual services for school-age youth with disabilities. The BSE ITI was funded at approximately $700,000 for 2003-04 and served 243 candidates.

• SED continued its support of teachers of the Blind and Visually Impaired (TBVI) Intensive Teacher Institute (ITI). The TBVI ITI program provides tuition reimbursement for currently certified special education or general education teachers who obtain commitments from LEAs to be assigned to classes or programs for students who are blind or visually impaired. The TBVI ITI program supports approximately 20 candidates per year. VESID developed and issued an RFP to continue the TBVI ITI program through 2009 and to design a revolving distance learning model for the upstate area. This model is to target different areas of the State for each cohort cycle.

• The NYC DOE's work plan for paraprofessionals continues to be implemented as projected in 2004-05.

• Teacher Retention Initiative – VESID continued support and involvement with the Northeast Regional Resource Center (NERRC), National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), Council of Exceptional Children (CEC), Syracuse University, and other stakeholders to complete the development and editing of “Keeping Quality Teachers; the Art of Retaining General and Special Education Teachers” (See www.vesid.nysed.gov/specialed/publications/persprep/qualityteachers/home.html).

• Bilingual Special Education Higher Education Support Center (BSEHESC) –BSEHESC, located at Buffalo State University, provides ongoing program development and technical assistance to bilingual special education programs in IHE, and assists IHE in registering new programs. The support center is also responsible for data analysis of statewide surveys conducted pursuant to the Jose P. agreement.

• Higher Education Support Center (HESC) at Syracuse University –HESC is a cornerstone program designed and implemented to compliment New York’s SIG. The Center represents a coalition of 71 IHE with teacher preparation programs, and is intended to have direct impact on the quality of teacher preparation programs at the institutions (see www.systemschange.syr.edu). Partner IHE work directly with low-performing districts identified for participation in New York’s SIG initiatives. HESC also supports a variety of grant initiatives to address specific issues, such as teacher retention, transition, postsecondary access, disproportionality, universal design for learning (UDL), and parent involvement. The grant initiatives support product development and the establishment of communities of learning. It is expected that the work of HESC and its widespread influence on teacher preparation programs will impact both recruitment of new teachers into the field and better retention of those who enter the field.

4. Projected Targets
   (for NEXT reporting period July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005 and on going):

• Implement and continually monitor and/or adjust strategies to address teacher and provider shortages.

5. Future Activities
6. Projected Timelines and Resources
   (for NEXT reporting period July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2005 and on going):

• Involve critical stakeholders in discussions that will lead to specific recommendations to the Board of Regents regarding how New York’s teacher certification requirements can be simplified in order to allow better alignment with the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)/IDEA highly qualified provisions.

• Upstate Speech Consortia Program – This new program was designed for implementation in early 2005 to provide support to all upstate (outside of NYC) IHE programs with a licensed SLP and certified speech teacher program to increase the number of candidates each program can support. The consortia consists of 10 IHE, and supports four additional candidates at each school for a total of 40 new SLP/speech teachers per year for the upstate area. The upstate speech consortia also involves a high school recruitment component and a distance learning component. The consortia is funded at $200,000 per year.

• Operationalize the bilingual speech and bilingual school psychology center.

• Operationalize the expanded distance learning speech initiative.

• In late spring 2005, submit draft regulations for licensed psychologists to become bilingual school psychologists to the Regents with adoption in summer 2005.

• Continue the BSE ITI program and increase funding to $900,000 in order to support additional identified needs.

• Continue the TBVI ITI in 2004-05 and award the RFP to continue the ITI program through 2009.

• Release the “Keeping Quality Teachers” document on CD and distribute the material to all school districts, IHEs and network representatives in the State. Develop and disseminate a companion video production on teacher retention. Begin pilot testing of the “Keeping Quality Teachers” product in 2005.

• Continue the BSEHESC in 2004-05 with increased emphasis on supply and demand analysis.

• Continue HESC at Syracuse University in 2004-05. The Center will restart the annual “Inclusive Schools Conference” in May 2005, after several years of this meeting not convening. This conference will kick-off New York’s IDEA Partnership Grant from NASDSE. This grant will establish communities of learning around a variety of topics. Eight hundred to 1,000 participants are expected to attend the conference.

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