Regents exams: Proposal would make it easier for NY students to pass
After a third school year disrupted by the pandemic, New York state officials want to allow students to more easily appeal failing scores on Regents exams, starting this spring through the end of next school year.
A new proposal is currently in the works to enable students across New York State pass Regents exams. This latest development is under a proposal expected to come before the state Board of Regents on Tuesday.
Students are required to earn a 65 or higher to pass Regents exams, which are required to earn a high school diploma. However, students could appeal scores of 50-64 if they pass the related course.
If approved, the change would go into effect immediately, likely allowing more students to meet graduation requirements. The purpose of the changes is to ease the effects COVID has had on schools across the state this year.
This change would mark the third year in a row that officials have changed rules around New York’s high school exit exams.
The pandemic has “continued to have adverse impacts on students and schools,” and that instruction has “varied significantly across the state,” state officials stated in a memo about the proposed changes.
As New York approaches a increasing numbers of COVID patients and deaths, it is possible schools could witness another major disruption to student and staff attendance leaving children at home with little to no instruction.
The temporary changes mentioned in this proposal would make it significantly easier for students to appeal failing scores. That may ultimately help to once again boost the state’s graduation rate, which was on the rise before the pandemic but has continued to increase as Regents have been canceled or decoupled from graduation requirements.
