New York State Education Department Commissioner's Interim Subject Files

Alphabetically by subject.

The office of Commissioner of Education was created in 1904 by the so-called Unification Act (Chapter 40) which established the State Education Department and replaced the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Secretary to the Board of Regents with the Commissioner. Since 1913 the Commissioner has also carried the title of President of the University of the State of New York, conferred by the Board of Regents.

Dr. James Edward Allen, Jr. was appointed New York State Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York in 1955. Allen presided over a vast expansion of the New York State Education Department, in terms of both bureaucratic size and authority. In elementary and secondary education, Allen oversaw the creation of the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, which allowed for smaller, rural school districts to partner for the provision of expanded educational programs, and fostered new programs in urban education and bilingual education.

Allen was also a strong proponent of the creation and use of data systems, research, and evaluation to improve the education process. In addition, Allen promoted the need for "de facto" school desegregation, working with the Board of Regents in 1960 on a policy statement affirming the need to desegregate schools. During his tenure, he ordered various school districts to desegregate, including the Malverne school district of Nassau County and Mt. Vernon school district.

In February of 1969, Allen was chosen by President Richard Nixon to be the Assistant Secretary for Education in the United State Department of Health, Education and Welfare and U.S. Commissioner of Education. The Deputy Commissioner of Education, Ewald B. Nyquist, agreed to serve as Interim Commissioner of Education while the New York State Board of Regents searched for a permanent successor. This interim period ended in November 1969, when Nyquist was officially named Commissioner of Education

During his tenure, Commissioner Nyquist focused attention on the reform of school operations and curriculum. Nyquist implemented Project Redesign, an effort to facilitate community involvement in examining and redesigning school operations within specific school districts. Nyquist's tenure also saw increased focus on bilingual education, spurred by the 1972 Regents Position Paper on Bilingual Education. Also, under Nyquist's tenure, the Education Department expanded its focus on higher education beyond public universities. This included implementing the Regents External Degree Program, which allowed for undergraduate degrees to be given to people based on knowledge and skills gained outside of college, as well as the Higher Education Opportunity Program, which funded programs to assist minority and disadvantaged students in attending non-public institutions of higher learning. In addition, Nyquist shared the views of his predecessor, James Allen, in support of desegregation. Although a law enacted by the New York State Legislature in 1969 barred the State Education Department from ordering school districts to desegregate, Nyquist assisted several urban school districts in producing and implementing voluntary desegregation plans, and in 1976, provided assistance to the Buffalo school system in implementing a federal court-ordered desegregation plan. Nyquist's relationship with the State Board of Regents and state elected officials became increasingly contentious during his tenure, and, in 1976, a majority of the Regents voted to dismiss him, the first time a sitting commissioner had been voted out by the Regents.

This series consists of subject files maintained by Ewald B. Nyquist during his tenure as Interim Commissioner of Education from February to November of 1969. In addition to files created by his office, there are also subject files created by Commissioner James E. Allen's office, mostly during his last few years as Commissioner. These files were likely kept by Nyquist as a reference.

Much of the series documents department efforts to desegregate school districts and to reform school district governance in favor of greater diversity and community involvement. In particular, there is a large amount of correspondence with school superintendents, school district officials, teachers' union representatives, and community leaders concerning the creation of demonstration school districts in New York City. These school districts (Ocean Hill/Brownsville in Brooklyn, Independent School 201 in Harlem, and Two Bridges in the Lower East Side of Manhattan). These school districts, funded in part by the State Education Department and a grant from the Ford Foundation, were administered largely by local boards of education, decreasing the influence of the New York City Board of Education over these districts. Included are correspondence and press releases that detail the controversy surrounding these districts, including the May 1968 dismissal of nineteen teachers by the Ocean Hill/Brownsville school district administration, the multiple city-wide strikes by the United Federation of Teachers as a result of the dismissed teachers, the student boycott resulting from the return of the dismissed teachers, and the November 1968 settlement that involved the formation of a temporary trusteeship for the Ocean Hill/Brownsville district headed by NYSED staff. Also included are reports from NYSED staff observers on the daily conditions within the demonstration school districts, including sit-ins, boycotts and other instances of civil disobedience by students and the surrounding communities. In addition, the series contains documentation of desegregation efforts in Buffalo, Malverne, and Mount Vernon, all of which were ordered by Commissioner Allen in 1965. Included are correspondence with school district personnel and citizens' groups, progress reports, memoranda, copies of Commissioner's decisions, and proposals for desegregation plans. These records document both the initial orders to desegregate, as well as the controversy surrounding the perceived lack of progress in attaining satisfactory levels of desegregation.

Also well-documented in the series is the increasing interaction between the New York State Education Department and the United States government, caused mainly by the passage in 1965 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA. Included are correspondence with legislators, chief state school officers of other states, and U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) officials, including Secretaries John Gardner and Norman Kurland. Topics reference include amendments to ESEA, participation of state education agencies in programs funded by the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, HEW guidelines for compliance with the Civil Rights Act, projects in New York school districts funded by ESEA Title III, proposals for NYSED projects funded by Title V, and documentation concerning the Higher Education Act and the Vocational Rehabilitation Act.

Other areas documented by the series include state budget requests, judicial decisions made by the Commissioner of Education, international education programs, higher education, the licensing of professions, cooperative research projects undertaken with the United States Office of Education, and student assessment, particularly the development of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

B0466Series B0466, Outgoing Correspondence, contains correspondence from the commissioner's office

14043Series 14043, Center on Innovation in Education New York City school decentralization files, documents State Education Dept. efforts to decentralize New York City school governance

The James E. Allen Personal Papers, 1955-1971 are held by the New York State Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections section.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.