This time, Regents get it right on graduation requirements
The state Board of Regents’ proposals to revise high school graduation requirements are a sweeping departure from what the Regents imposed some 25 years ago. This time, they have come closer to the mark than their predecessors.
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, standardized testing was all the rage. The federal government even required states to adopt strict testing requirements as a condition of receiving federal education dollars for their school districts. New York and other states took that policy a step further by implementing high-stakes exams as a prerequisite to receiving a high school Regents diploma endorsed by the state and respected by universities around the country.
High school seniors were required to pass five Regents exams or an accepted substitute test in order to graduate. Failure to post a passing mark on all the exams could mean devastation for the student and ineligibility to graduate, absent a successful appeal by the student to the local school district superintendent for a lesser-regarded, non-regents diploma.
The consequence of this policy imperative was that teachers began teaching to the test. Often that meant ignoring wider educational content and not providing important and stimulating extracurricular activities in favor of time spent anticipating test questions. That also spawned test prep companies, which offered parents the opportunity to better prepare their children for test-taking at a high price. Clearly, that put families with limited resources at a distinct disadvantage.
The equation was simple: Pass all five exams in five content areas or risk being left behind. Students were not given options to show what they had learned and demonstrate their critical thinking skills, other than to meet certain written testing benchmarks. The only exceptions were for students with disabilities enrolled in special education programs and students who were pursuing a commercial education. They were able to graduate, but
without the same validation of their mainstream academic peers. That became a stigma limiting their adult opportunities.
As chair of the Assembly Education Committee, I objected to such a narrow graduation policy. I had heard many anecdotes from students and their parents about the myriad reasons why a student might not do well on a single exam on a particular day. The pressure was enormous. Under the weight of such anxiety, it’s easy to forget what you otherwise have learned. Even accomplished actors succumb to stage fright and forget the lines they had practiced for weeks.
Now, with new proposals to be voted on later this year, there will be a variety of assessment tools available to determine a student’s proficiency. That will include passage of Regents exams, but they will no longer be mandatory. Student projects, portfolios and internships dealing with critical content areas will offer alternatives to high-stakes graduation exams in order for students to demonstrate their academic knowledge.
By proposing these additional pathways to a high school diploma, the Regents have emphatically dismissed the “one-size-fits-all” approach to assessing a students abilities. In doing so, they have pivoted to a more individualized demonstration of a student’s strengths and accumulated proficiency.
New York needs to maintain rigorous high school academic standards; otherwise a diploma would be worth nothing — and worse still, students would not be prepared for the university or professional world that awaits them. And testing should continue to be one of an array of evaluation tools. But test taking should never overshadow the more important classroom learning experience.
Of course there will be detractors. There is no single correct method of educational assessment, and all ideas should be welcomed. But no two students are alike and no single test can define the worth of a person. The Regents have wisely recognized that there are multiple ways for students to demonstrate their knowledge.
Steven Sanders of Troy was a member of the state Assembly for 28 years and served as chair of the Education Committee.