State Removes Regents Exams From Graduation Requirement

Students will no longer be required to pass the Regents exams in order to graduate high school starting in 2028, after the New York State Board of Regents moved forward on plans for a massive graduation overhaul.

The exams have been a strict graduation requirement for over 30 years. However, the New York State Education Department recommended the state make the exams optional and offer alternative assessments for students to prove their readiness in 2023.

Since then, the Board of Regents has been working on a strategy to phase out the requirement and develop a new system, the preliminary plans of which were presented on Sept. 14.

“We need to provide evidence that students are ready to succeed in the life that comes after high school, and this is not something a Regents exam was ever intended to do,” Zachary Warner, an assistant commissioner at the education department, said at the hearing.

Furthermore, one of the state’s chief concerns is that the one-size-fits-all requirement is damaging to disadvantaged students. “You don’t assess a fish on climbing a tree because fish can’t climb trees,” said Regent Felicia Thomas-Williams.

Instead, requirements for graduation could look like capstone projects or skill- and performance-based assessments, which the board assured will not be a reflection of the state dropping standards.

New York joins a long list of states that have reconsidered standardized testing graduation requirements in recent years. However, Warner said that other states have expressed interest in their current work in formulating plans for alternative graduation requirements.

“This is exciting,” Warner said. “People are talking about this.”

The vote to proceed with removing the requirement was a step forward for NY Inspires, a plan from the education department to further transform graduation requirements. Another key part of this plan is to transition to one single diploma, shifting away from the three options currently available.

The team working on the alternative graduation requirement plans expects to present the regulation package to the board with further plans in February.

Though details on the plans and guidance for schools and parents are still developing, it is already evident what the board hopes the new system will achieve.

“For years, we looked at what elite private schools provide for their students, and they do not worry about the Regents exam,” said Commissioner of Education Betty A. Rosa.

Instead, she said they focus on teaching critical thinking and problem-solving, which she hopes the new system would mirror.

“The only way that we can get there is when we start to stop thinking about teaching to the test,” Rosa said.

Students will still take some of the exams as part of nationwide standardized testing laws. However, some questioned whether scores will be affected when students don’t have an extra layer of motivation to excel.

Others have questioned whether the new plan will make it difficult to compare outcomes between schools. As it stands, the current plan is to allow each district to decide its own graduation assessment requirements, so long as they fit certain criteria.

EdTrust–New York, an education policy and advocacy organization, announced its concerns with the plan to eliminate the uniformity in a statement, arguing that a stronger replacement should first be developed.

“We cannot make an opportunity gap disappear simply by changing how we measure it,” the statement said.

The plans have also received significant pushback from those who say that the state is watering down standards due to declining scores.

However, attendees of the meeting emphasized the reforms were taking place with the students’ evolving needs in mind. Several expressed the concern that the education system has under served students by over prioritizing the exam in classrooms.

“I know what it looks like when teaching is overly prescriptive, when it’s monotonous, and it’s not something that’s engaging,” Regent Adrian Hale said at the meeting. “We have lost a lot of young people in this state trying to fit kids into a system instead of building a system around our children.”