Plus: New York to enforce a portion of teacher evaluation rules
ALBANY — Only portions of the new teacher- and principal-evaluation system are being implemented as the state Education Department pursues an appeal of a recent state Supreme Court ruling that largely sided with the teachers union.
Emergency regulations adopted by the state Board of Regents Tuesday clarify that the Education Department will not enforce provisions of the rules that were ruled invalid by Supreme Court Justice Michael Lynch last month.
“Pending the outcome of the appeal process, school districts and BOCES (boards of cooperative educational services) will be required to implement only those provisions of the evaluation regulations not impacted by the court decision,” Tom Dunn, a spokesman for the Education Department, said in a statement.
State officials on Friday filed a notice of intent to appeal the decision with the Appellate Division, 3rd Department in Albany. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110915/NEWS01/109150321/New-York-enforce-portion-teacher-evaluation-rules

Average SAT scores down for high school class of 2011 as test-taking pool expands
Still, while the three-point decline to 497 may look small in the context of an 800-point test, it was only the second time in the last two decades reading scores have fallen as much in a single year. And reading scores are now notably lower than scores as recently as 2005, when the average was 508.
But the relatively poor performance on the SATs could raise questions whether reading and writing instruction need even more emphasis to accommodate the country’s changing demographics.
Roughly 27 percent of the 1.65 million test-takers last year had a first language other than English, up from 19 percent just a decade ago.
The SAT and rival ACT exam are taken by roughly the same number of students each year. Most colleges require scores from at least one of the exams but will consider either. In recent years, some colleges have adopted test-optional policies allowing applicants to decline to submit test scores at all. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/higher-education/average-sat-scores-down-for-high-school-class-of-2011-as-test-taking-pool-expands/2011/09/14/gIQA9XE1RK_story.html