New York moves to cut reliance on Regents examination as HS graduation requirement

A key commission Monday recommended New York scale back required standardized testing to earn a high school diploma, reducing the importance of the Regents exam in a move that if adopted would mark one of the most sweeping changes to state graduation policy in decades.

Even before proposals to overhaul graduation requirements — 12 in total — were formally released, anticipated changes to testing became a flashpoint for critics who worry overhauling the venerable Regents exams amounts to lowering the bar for students, particularly after the widespread disruption of the COVID pandemic.

Proponents of the changes say New York is an outlier for holding onto exit exams that fail to show how much kids have learned in a given school year.

At least three-quarters of the nearly 70-member committee had to agree on a proposal for it to become an official submission, state education officials told the Board of Regents. Over the next several months, they will consider the necessary regulatory changes and associated costs with each recommendation.

Officials estimated the proposals could go to a vote next fall, capping off a lengthy review process that started in 2019.

“The current system at that time — and at this time — was not working for every student,” Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa told the Daily News before the meeting.

Regents exams

After years of anticipation, the commission recommended the state reduce or modify assessment requirements for a high school diploma, giving students other options to show their skills beyond standardized tests.

It marks one of the most sweeping changes to state graduation policy in decades, with ripple effects in classrooms across New York — where some students are consigned to retake hours-long exams or forego a diploma. Teachers, too, have expressed feeling hamstringed into teaching toward a test.

“What we don’t want to do is signify that all year long, teachers are teaching students, gathering portfolios and projects, and at the end of the year we say none of that matters except this [exam],” said Rosa. “Can you imagine, as a teacher, I feel my entire year I worked with my students … here’s all this work that we can demonstrate but you want to base the students’ value, performance on one moment in time?”

For a typical diploma, students currently must pass at least four Regents exams and another state-approved assessment, and meet certain credit requirements. The details of the new requirements have yet to be determined.

Only eight states in the country still require exit exams to graduate, down from a peak of 27 in the mid-1990s.

“We have worked with far too many students who had the deck stacked against them,” said Kim Sweet, executive director of the group Advocates for Children of New York, “yet persevered and completed their coursework and were prepared to move on to post-secondary life — only to be blocked from a high school diploma because of a single high-stakes exam.”

Advocates for Children and like-minded organizations argue there is no evidence that exit exams increase student achievement or job earnings after graduation. Over the winter, the state reviewed a 161-page report showing the high-stakes tests may increase dropout rates, “with especially large effects among Black students.”

To build out alternatives to traditional testing, the state Education Department would create a statewide rubric for “performance-based” assessments — including presentations, projections and portfolios.

Rosa noted many colleges are phasing out standardized tests, and that admissions offices and employers review applications more holistically. But for a high school diploma, exams still play an outsized role.

“It’s old. It’s frustrating. And yet for those young people we want to hold onto something that makes zero sense,” she said.

Only 9% of the advisory group opposed the bid to weaken the tests’ impact on graduation requirements, a sign of its widespread popularity among that body, state education data show. But the recommendation still raised some eyebrows from advocates who favor the exams.

“There must be objective assessments in place to ensure students who graduate from high school are prepared for college and careers,” said Jacquelyn Martell, executive director of Education Reform Now — New York.

“New York must have true guardrails in place so when a high school senior receives their diploma, it’s not just a piece of paper,” she added.

Diploma types

The committee also called for replacing the three diploma types — the local diploma, the Regents diploma and the Regents diploma with “advanced designation” — with one diploma.

“This was my number one desire,” Rosa said of the recommendation.

Students could still add optional seals and endorsements like biliteracy or civic readiness, giving them the opportunity to show their skills in a certain area — without creating confusion over what the various diplomas signify.

The commissioner said colleges and employers have misconceptions about the differences between the diplomas, and students feel a stigma attached to the local designation. A new system would also be easier for families to understand as they track children’s progress toward graduation, the advisory group believed.

Credit requirements

The recommendations include changes to diploma credit requirements, including new priorities like financial literacy and civic responsibility and giving students more flexibility in picking their classes.

New requirements to graduate high school could also incorporate fine and performing arts and writing skills for “real-world scenarios.”

The proposed model would also provide students with more choice in the options used to satisfy requirements. For example, rather than requiring a math or science course, the state could move to a model that organizes requirements into larger categories such as STEM. Then students would have the flexibility to pursue courses in that topic most relevant to them and their career aspirations.

Another suggestion is to promote access to career and technical education, including internships, that help prepare young adults for life after high school graduation.

Flexibility for some students

Under the proposal, exemptions to the testing requirement could become far more widespread.

Students going through a major life event or extenuating circumstances — such as medical conditions, death of a family member or trauma prior to sitting for a required exam — would be released from the obligation if the recommendations are implemented.

“[Students] shared with us, some of them, the stress and anxiety that comes along with the Regents exams, although they understand the importance of it,” said Angelique Johnson-Dingle, deputy commissioner of P-12 instructional support.

“Is this really what we intended to do with this assessment?” she added. “You can do an excellent job all year long and you get to this test and have one bad thing go wrong,” she said.

The commission is also eyeing tailored graduation requirements for students who are refugees or otherwise new to the United States, as well as those above the age at which school attendance is required.