N.Y. Education Law § 210-b: Graduate-level teacher and educational leadership program deregistration and suspension

§ 210-b. Graduate-level teacher and educational leadership program

deregistration and suspension. 1. The department shall suspend a

graduate program's authority to admit new students if for three

consecutive academic years, fewer than fifty percent of its students who

have satisfactorily completed the program pass each examination that

they have taken that is required for certification and shall notify

currently admitted and enrolled students of such suspension. The

graduate program shall be permitted to continue operations for the

length of time it would take all currently admitted and/or enrolled

students, if they were to attend classes on a full-time basis, to

complete the requirements for their degrees. If, at any time during such

period, the commissioner determines that student and/or program

performance has significantly improved, the commissioner may reinstate

the program's ability to admit new students. If the commissioner does

not affirmatively reinstate the program's authority to admit new

students during such time period, the program shall be deregistered. For

purposes of this subdivision, students who have satisfactorily completed

the graduate program shall mean students who have met each educational

requirement of the program, excluding any requirement that the student

pass each required New York State teacher certification examination for

a teaching certificate and/or school building leader examination for a

school building leader certificate in order to complete the program.

Students satisfactorily meeting each educational requirement may include

students who earn a degree or students who complete each educational

requirement without earning a degree. When making such a determination,

the department shall consider the performance on each certification

examination of the cohort of students completing an examination not more

than five years before the end of the academic year in which the program

is completed or not later than the September thirtieth following the end

of such academic year, where academic year is defined as July first

through June thirtieth, and shall consider only the highest score of

individuals taking a test more than once. When making such a

determination the department may adjust its methodology for determining

examination passage rates for one or more certification examinations to

account for sample size and accuracy.

2. The institution may submit an appeal of a suspension of a graduate

program's ability to admit students or deregistration pursuant to this

section in a manner and timeframe as prescribed by the commissioner in

regulations. However, a program that has had its ability to admit

students suspended shall not admit new students while awaiting the

commissioner's decision on any appeal. An institution with a

deregistered program shall not admit any new students in such program

while awaiting the commissioner's decision on its application for

registration.

3. The department may also, as prescribed by the commissioner in

regulations, conduct expedited suspension and registration reviews for

graduate programs, pursuant to regulations of the commissioner.