As New York prepares to phase out Regents exams as a graduation requirement, some students and educators say the tests still play a role in measuring what teenagers know, and what they\u2019re ready for after high school.<\/p>\n
Traditional Regents exams \u2013 statewide standardized tests in core subjects \u2013 have been part of New York\u2019s education system since the 19th century. For decades, passing a set number has been a key step toward earning a high school diploma.<\/p>\n
At KIPP Capital High School in Albany, sophomore Abigail Coqmard believes they do serve a purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Regents do help you establish that knowledge for you to be able to move on to the next course in class,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Still, the tests draw mixed reviews over whether they truly reflect a student\u2019s potential. At KIPP, teachers say they start building test\u2011taking skills and confidence as early as kindergarten, while trying to keep the focus on overall growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look at how students are developing the critical thinking skills that they\u2019re going to need to go out into this world,\u201d KIPP Capital Region\u2019s Chief Academic Officer Maisie\u00a0Wright said.<\/p>\n
Even with that preparation, some students say test day can feel like it carries too much weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some people who are like, \u2018I\u2019m a little nervous,\u2019\u201d Coqmard said.<\/p>\n
Senior Lauren Skeete worries most about classmates whose strengths don\u2019t show up easily on standardized exams.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just might not be a good test taker,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t think that should stop you from reaching your future goals and the milestones you\u2019ve been working for four years, just for one test. Especially when in other states it\u2019s not mandatory.\u201d<\/p>\n
State education officials plan to begin phasing out Regents as a strict graduation gate by the 2027\u201128 school year, giving students more ways to demonstrate readiness through coursework, projects or other measures. The exams themselves, however, are expected to continue in some form.<\/p>\n
For Wright, Regents are likely to remain part of how schools track basic academic skills, even as their role changes. She described the exams as one piece of a larger picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegents are a baseline, and they show whether or not students have a foundation of skills they\u2019ll need when they leave us and go on to do the things we know they\u2019re capable of,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t teach to the test; we teach through the test.\u201d<\/p>\n
As New York rethinks what it takes to graduate, students like Skeete and Coqmard will be among the last classes for whom Regents still carry high stakes, and among the first to navigate what comes next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As New York prepares to phase out Regents exams as a graduation requirement, some students and educators say…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":860526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[40737,5229,16549,40736,407,405,403,17050,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,5981,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":["post-860525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-albany-capital-region","tag-america","tag-app-education","tag-corey-james","tag-education","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-state","tag-news","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-swarm","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116733110368107883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}