State Ed Dept's EngageNY website to be discontinued this month |
On Board Online • April 4, 2022
By Sal Prividera
Special Correspondent
After more than a decade of being the one-stop resource for educators across the state and the nation, the EngageNY website is scheduled to be discontinued this month. The State Education Department (SED) has moved lesson plans and other content to various portions of the nysed.gov website.
Former state Education Commissioner John King created the website to help school districts fulfill promises the state made to receive Race to the Top funding from the Obama administration. King went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education during Obama's last six months in office and is now president and CEO of the Education Trust.
Peak use was in 2017, when there were 1,400 users per day.
In recent years, the EngageNY website had experienced a sharp decline in average daily users and resource downloads, according to state Education Department officials. Recent users were mostly from other states or countries.
The reason: state standards have changed. In 2017 the Board of Regents adopted the Next Generation Learning Standards for English language arts (ELA) and math, which replaced standards based on the Common Core while retaining some similarity.
SED is now focused on helping schools plan for and implement the Next Generation standards, according to state officials.
EngageNY content included lesson plans, advanced subject topic guidance and tools for evaluating and promoting teacher and leader effectiveness. A video library offered updates on standards and training modules for teachers and principals. A section for parents and families provided information on the Common Core and gave advice on how parents could support their children's success in school.
Still relevant curricular information from EngageNY on ELA and math and items from old tests are available at www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/engageny .
Curricular information for high school equivalency can be found under portions of the website devoted to SED's Adult Career and Continuing Education Services at www.acces.nysed.gov . Resources on teacher effectiveness are now housed at www.nysed.gov/educator-quality .
Some outdated content that is no longer used by either the department or school districts will not be offered on the nysed.gov site, but will be archived, officials said.