NYS Education Department proposes dropping Regents exams from HS diploma requirements
The New York State Education Department is proposing that Regents exams no longer be required for high school graduation, although school districts would still be free to give them to students.
In a presentation Monday to the state Board of Regents, which has final say, Education Department staff recommended sweeping changes to New York's diploma requirements. The Board of Regents, which makes statewide education policy, will be presented in November with a full plan to make such changes.
"Students will continue to be assessed through multiple measures at the local level to demonstrate their learning," said a summary from the Education Department.
The presentation did not specify whether, under the Education Department's plan, there would be statewide requirements for assessing students' readiness to graduate or whether it would be solely up to school districts to choose methods of assessment.
Marc Baiocco, Clarkstown schools superintendent and president-elect of the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents, said it wasn't yet clear what school districts' responsibilities will be in determining what rubrics or scoring methods to use to assess students.
"That all remains to be seen," Baiocco said.
Under the state's plan, districts could still choose to use Regents exams to make sure students are meeting state learning standards.
Angelique Johnson-Dingle, deputy state commissioner of P-12 instructional support, told the Regents that her team was still working out "finer details."
Proposed changes to New York's diploma requirements
The Education Department outlined four main changes that will be presented to the board of Regents in November:
Allowing student proficiency to be measured in multiple ways. Regents exams would no longer be required, but could still be administered to measure whether students are meeting New York's learning standards. Students would have other ways to show proficiency, including through work- or service-based learning experiences, Career and Technical Education courses, college-credit earning programs, participation in the arts, and "traditional high school courses."
Adopting an ideal "portrait of a graduate." This portrait would include characteristics the state identifies that each graduate should possess, including being "critical thinkers, innovative problem solvers, literate across all content areas, culturally competent, socially-emotionally competent, effective communicators, and global citizens," a statement said.
School credits would be redefined to focus on proficiency rather than "time-based units of study." Different assessment methods would be used to measure proficiency.
Eliminating the "local" diploma and moving to one diploma. Districts would be able to add seals and endorsements of their own.
The Education Department will have public forums to gather feedback on the four changes presented Monday between July and October.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New York proposes dropping Regents exams from HS diploma requirements
