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• subseries 1
• subseries 2
• subseries 3
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Subseries 1: New York State Commissioner of Education records

Scope and Content Note:

This subseries consists of materials from Gordon Ambach's tenure in the New York State Education Department, including the period between 1977 and 1987 in which he was New York Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York. Included are correspondence, publications, reports, texts of speeches delivered by Ambach at colleges and universities, educational conferences, and other events. Also included are correspondence and publications from the New York Board of Regents on joint initiatives and the creation of the Regents Action Plan to ensure the quality and relevance of exams. There are further subseries devoted to specific issues and events in Ambach's tenure, including the desegregation of Yonkers public schools and other New York school systems, the creation of the Harvard Seminar on Equality of Educational Opportunity, and the passage of key federal legislation related to education.

Arrangement:

Arranged into five subseries: 1. Records of Speeches and Meetings; 2. New York State Board of Regents; 3. Records of Yonkers Board of Education and Other Desegregation Cases in New York; 4. Harvard Seminar on Equality of Educational Opportunity Report (SEEOR) Records; 5. Federal Legislation of the U.S. Office of Education Records

Subseries 1.1: Records of speeches and meetings

Scope and Content Note:

This subseries consists of speeches, drafts, correspondence, memos, and background information relating to speeches given by Gordon Ambach and meetings he attended during his tenure in the New York State Education Department, including the period between 1977 and 1987 in which he was New York Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York. Speeches were given at colleges and universities, educational conferences, state events, and religious organizations, among others. Ambach attended meetings almost exclusively on educational topics, and spoke or contributed at most of these.

Arrangement:

Roughly in reverse chronological order

Subseries 1.2: Records of New York State Board of Regents

Scope and Content Note:

This subseries consists of pamphlets, catalogs, drafts of reports, publications, and correspondence illustrating the relationship between the New York Board of Regents and Gordon Ambach as the New York Commissioner of Education. It includes information about several joint initiatives, including new certification requirements for elementary and secondary school teachers to begin in 1993, reports on the status of New York schools for the governor and legislature, and the documentation of the Regents Action Plan to ensure the quality and relevance of exams.

Arrangement:

Unarranged

Subseries 1.3: Records of Yonkers Board of Education and other desegregation cases in New York

Scope and Content Note:

The records in this subseries, 1960-1995, consist primarily of correspondence of the Commissioner of Education with the Superintendent of the Yonkers schools, members of the Board of Regents and others. Also included are court depositions of the Commissioner, reports and transcripts of court cases related to the Yonkers schools, papers related to desegregation of schools in Buffalo, Rochester, Rockville Center and Syracuse, statements of the Regents on integration of the schools, and a chronology of desegregation activities in New York State.

Arrangement:

Unarranged.

Subseries 1.4: Harvard Seminar on Equality of Educational Opportunity Report (SEEOR) records

Scope and Content Note:

The subseries includes a Ambach's personal copy of the Coleman Report with a few annotations; a memo to Ambach and others from James E. Allen, Commissioner of Education, concerning the reorganization of the Office of Education; update memos to the Seminar participants about progress of the report of the Seminar, 1967-68; a list of the participants in the Seminar; proposals for the funding of the Seminar's work; drafts of chapters for the 1972 report; newspaper and journal articles on segregation and educational opportunity; reports by participants in the Seminar; Notebook of the Harvard Seminar, including meeting notes, points of discussion at meetings, statements about the Coleman report, a memo from Moynihan and Pettigrew to Sizer requesting establishment of the Seminar; reports of the data analysis, particularly for ninth grade students in the Northeast, and the Code Book with questions for the students and master tape location.

Arrangement:

Unarranged

Subseries 1.5: Federal legislation of the U.S. Office of Education records

Scope and Content Note:

This subseries is comprised of federal records of the U.S. Office of Education concerning legislation, primarily from 1961-1973, and the relationship of the office of the NYS Commissioner of Education to their shaping and passage. Records include legislative bills with comments by Gordon Ambach and others, summaries of federal education budgets and their impact, correspondence, notes, and reports. Of note is material from the Britain-based Ditchley Journal from 1973 detailing findings from Ditchley Conferences V and VI of that year, devoted to the study of education and youth problems, and from the collaborative work of the Education Policy Research Center. The creation and passage of both the Vocational Education Act (1917) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) is documented.

Arrangement:

Unarranged