§ 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.