Sec. 116.2. General standards

(a) As used in this Part, equivalent and comparable shall mean equivalent and comparable, respectively, in the judgment of the Commissioner of Education.

(b) Educational facilities shall be designed and constructed comparable to the standards as set forth in section 155.1(b) of this Title.

(c) Health services shall be provided equivalent to those required by Part 136 of this Title, except where other health and safety requirements exceed the requirements of such Part. Health services personnel shall include individuals with equivalent background and training to those identified in section 136.1(c) of this Title.

(d) Instruction for no fewer than 180 days each school year shall be available for each pupil in full-time residential care for a full school year, and a proportionate number of days of instruction, based upon a 10-month school year, shall be available for each such pupil who is in residence for less than a full school year.

(e) Pupil attendance records shall be maintained in a manner that is comparable to that required in section 104.1 of this Title.

(f) Individual pupil academic records shall be maintained for each student. The confidentiality of pupil records shall be maintained and parental access to such records shall be permitted as required pursuant to 20 USC 1232g (United States Code, 1982 edition, Volume 8, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402; 1983—available at the Office for Education of Children with Handicapping Conditions, Education Building Annex, Room 1073, Albany, NY 12234) and 34 CFR part 99 (Code of Federal Regulations, 1984 edition, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402; 1984—available at the Office for Education of Children with Handicapping Conditions, Education Building Annex, Room 1073, Albany, NY 12234).

(g) Educational evaluation.

(1) Each home or facility shall assure that an educational evaluation is completed within 10 days of a youth's admission for the purpose of providing an immediate educational program pending further evaluation as determined by the home or facility or as required by section 116.6 of this Part. Such educational evaluation shall be administered in the student's dominant language and assess the student's development in reading, mathematics, and receptive and expressive language.

(2) Current information obtained from the pupil's previous school district or other comparable sources may be used to supplement or in lieu of conducting the assessments required by the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subdivision.

(h) Each home or facility shall establish procedures which assure that all appropriate educational information is provided to instructional and other appropriate professional staff, and all such information is forwarded, according to the safeguards required pursuant to subdivision (f) of this section, to the receiving school district or agency when the pupil leaves the facility's educational program.

(i) Instruction provided shall be comparable and equivalent to that required by section 3204 of the Education Law and Part 100 of this Title, except as otherwise provided in subdivision (l) of this section.

(j) Occupational education, if provided, shall be comparable to that required by sections 141.2, 141.4, 141.5, 141.8, 141.9 and 141.10 of this Title.

(k) Issuance of diplomas and certificates shall be governed by Part 103 of this Title and section 224 of the Education Law. Only registered secondary schools may issue diplomas.

(l) If provided, instruction intended to prepare a pupil for a high school equivalency diploma shall be provided in accordance with the provisions of section 103.3 of this Title.

(m) No pupil over the compulsory attendance age shall be dropped from enrollment in educational programming without following procedures comparable to those set forth in subdivision 1-a of section 3202 of the Education Law.