§ 210-B — Graduate-level teacher and educational leadership program deregistration and suspension

§ 210-b. Graduate-level teacher and educational leadership program\nderegistration and suspension. 1. The department shall suspend a\ngraduate program's authority to admit new students if for three\nconsecutive academic years, fewer than fifty percent of its students who\nhave satisfactorily completed the program pass each examination that\nthey have taken that is required for certification and shall notify\ncurrently admitted and enrolled students of such suspension. The\ngraduate program shall be permitted to continue operations for the\nlength of time it would take all currently admitted and/or enrolled\nstudents, if they were to attend classes on a full-time basis, to\ncomplete the requirements for their degrees. If, at any time during such\nperiod, the commissioner determines that student and/or program\nperformance has significantly improved, the commissioner may reinstate\nthe program's ability to admit new students. If the commissioner does\nnot affirmatively reinstate the program's authority to admit new\nstudents during such time period, the program shall be deregistered. For\npurposes of this subdivision, students who have satisfactorily completed\nthe graduate program shall mean students who have met each educational\nrequirement of the program, excluding any requirement that the student\npass each required New York State teacher certification examination for\na teaching certificate and/or school building leader examination for a\nschool building leader certificate in order to complete the program.\nStudents satisfactorily meeting each educational requirement may include\nstudents who earn a degree or students who complete each educational\nrequirement without earning a degree. When making such a determination,\nthe department shall consider the performance on each certification\nexamination of the cohort of students completing an examination not more\nthan five years before the end of the academic year in which the program\nis completed or not later than the September thirtieth following the end\nof such academic year, where academic year is defined as July first\nthrough June thirtieth, and shall consider only the highest score of\nindividuals taking a test more than once. When making such a\ndetermination the department may adjust its methodology for determining\nexamination passage rates for one or more certification examinations to\naccount for sample size and accuracy.\n 2. The institution may submit an appeal of a suspension of a graduate\nprogram's ability to admit students or deregistration pursuant to this\nsection in a manner and timeframe as prescribed by the commissioner in\nregulations. However, a program that has had its ability to admit\nstudents suspended shall not admit new students while awaiting the\ncommissioner's decision on any appeal. An institution with a\nderegistered program shall not admit any new students in such program\nwhile awaiting the commissioner's decision on its application for\nregistration.\n 3. The department may also, as prescribed by the commissioner in\nregulations, conduct expedited suspension and registration reviews for\ngraduate programs, pursuant to regulations of the commissioner.\n