The NYS Board of Regents has made sweeping changes to high school graduation requirements, with the implementation details “to be decided.” Will these changes improve outcomes for students?
The major changes are confusing,
*A range of options will be offered in addition to the regents exam to meet graduation requirements.
New York State is shifting to a competency-based diploma system that will eliminate the requirement to pass Regents exams to graduate, beginning with the 2027–28 school year. Students will instead demonstrate proficiency through alternative methods like capstone projects, experiential learning, community service, internships, and career and technical education programs. [1, 2, 3, 4]
While traditional testing will still exist under federal mandates, students will have choices to prove their readiness: [1, 2]
- Performance-Based Assessments (PBA): Students complete hands-on activities, writing samples, or subject-specific presentations to show competency. [1, 2]
- Capstone Projects: In-depth, multi-source research projects that demonstrate analytical ability using primary and secondary sources. [1, 2]
- Career and Technical Education (CTE): Earning industry-recognized credentials or participating in specialized career programs. [1, 2]
- Current Alternatives: Until the phase-out is fully implemented, students can currently substitute a passing score on the SAT, ACT, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Cambridge (AICE) exams for equivalent Regents requirements. [1, 2]
One model evaluates students’ performance based on essays, research papers and projects, oral presentations and debate, and mathematical applications. [Will the State provide “valid and reliable inter-rater assessment tools?”] Vermont abandoned a statewide portfolio system due to the inability to resolve this issue, The NYSED PLAN PILOT program has been piloting “other than regents options” in a number of school districts across the state.
* The Portrait of a Graduate themes will be embedded in the graduation measures
The collective goal is to ensure every student graduates, not only academically prepared, but equipped with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to thrive in an increasingly complex and interconnected world. A New York State high school graduate will be:
- Academically Prepared: by demonstrating a strong foundation in the New York State learning standards and being equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve success in college, careers, civic engagement, service, and life.
- A Creative Innovator: by utilizing imagination, curiosity, and flexible thinking to solve problems creatively, and develop new ideas and products, while adapting to evolving circumstances and challenges.
- A Critical Thinker: by analyzing information thoughtfully, evaluating evidence critically, and identifying patterns and connections between different pieces of information (across multiple content areas) to address complex issues and navigate the world with insight.
- An Effective Communicator: by articulating ideas clearly and confidently through speaking, writing, and the use of different types of media for various purposes, while engaging with diverse audiences and actively listening to different perspectives.
- A Global Citizen: by acting responsibly and ethically within local, global, and digital communities, employing civic knowledge, skills, and mindsets to promoter global sustainability and contribute positively to a culturally diverse, democratic society.
- Reflective and Future Focused: by engaging in self-reflection to identify strengths and areas for growth, setting meaningful goals, using social awareness to maintain supportive relationships, and demonstrating responsible decision-making that prioritizes social, emotional, and mental well-being.[Will the teaching of these qualities be embedded in courses? separate courses? how will they be assessed?]
David Steiner in a stinging criticism of a Portrait of a Graduate writes
,… it is ever more common for school districts and states to publish “portrait of the graduate” — a vision of the well-educated student. As a review of this collection of portraits reveals, there is little emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge. One study that scanned a large number of such portraits produced this condensed list: “Analyze to understand, care for and contribute to society, collaborate across difference, communicate in all media and modalities, create to solve and share, and practice self-awareness and regulation.” Such a hodgepodge of metacognitive, behavioral and ethical goals is often confused, wrongheaded or underthought from the start. To analyze something, you need to know what it’s about; communication in the absence of learning might well be mindless or destructive
* Seat time will no longer be the sole requirement for accumulating course credits.
Does the State mean “credit recovery” schemes?”
Chalkbeat reports,
“Officials have also yet to explain what specific graduation measures will replace the Regents exams.”
“Under the new framework, the state would overhaul credit requirements that specify the number of hours of instruction students receive in each subject, a change officials said would free students up for projects, work-based learning, and dual-enrollment programs. It could allow schools and local districts to think more creatively about how to assess students using portfolios, performances, and other measures beyond tests and grades.”
“Angelique Johnson-Dingle, a deputy commissioner in the state Education Department, referred to traditional school schedules, in which students move between classes at set times, as an outdated “factory model” of education during a presentation to the state Board of Regents.”
“It is about time for us to rethink this factory model and to provide districts with the support to transform antiquated structures, reimagine the use of time and space, and refocus on deep, authentic, connected learning,”
“But state officials have not offered a detailed vision of what the competency-based approach would look like and indicated local districts and schools would have flexibility in how they implement it. Officials have also yet to explain what specific graduation measures will replace the Regents exams.”
“I think it’s well-intentioned, ” said Jeff Smink, the deputy director of the advocacy group Ed-Trust New York. He said the state’s explanation of the competency-based approach involved “a hell of a lot of buzzwords, but not a lot of detail on what it would look like in the classroom.”
“Many states have adopted competency-based education policies to varying degrees, often because of a belief that students need to be prepared for a changing economy. However, there is limited evidence that the approach boosts student performance and it can be tricky to implement. Officials in Maine wound up rolling back a similar initiative after local districts had trouble defining proficiency and teachers struggled to communicate how students would be assessed.”
“State Education Commissioner Betty Rosa acknowledged some questions around the competency-based approach and stressed that more information would eventually be shared by state officials, local districts, and even Regents themselves.”
“Even without clear guidance on the new competency-based framework, state officials encouraged school districts to begin experimenting with different ways of assessing students and boosting access to work-based learning in the meantime.”
“Other members of the board raised questions about the workload involved for educators in transitioning to the competency-based approach.”
“I think the concept and the idea is wonderful,” said Regent Susan Mittler, who represents several upstate counties. But if a teacher is pursuing more ambitious projects with larger classes, “How do I get everything graded?” Mittler wondered. “How do I make sure that all the students working on a capstone project have access to me when they have a problem?”
“Some advocates also raised questions about how the state will make sure that the approach doesn’t lead to uneven expectations in different schools and districts across New York.“
“We already have too many districts that are simply passing students — particularly students of color from low-income backgrounds — even though they’re not prepared,” Smink said. “This just raises a lot of both equity and rigor concerns.”
State officials vowed to release “common criteria” for demonstrating each of the competencies and other guardrails to ensure rigor across the state. [Will Rochester and Scarsdale use “common criteria?”]
“This is not about lowering standards,” said Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young. “This is about redefining how all of our students meet the standard.”
Well, not to be a cynic, but … The fact that 20% of Black and Hispanic students fail to graduate in four years is not addressed, nor are the staggering chronic absenteeism rates in the highest poverty districts, and nary a word about the funding disparities across the state. New York State spends the most per capita dollars on education in the nation and is in the middle of the states in NAEP scores.
For those with the responsibility of implementing the policies a range of questions.
* Can an individual student choose a project option, or, does a school choose to become a project school? Who decides? Is it a district decision?
Will there be guidance from the State ? Will the State provide a common rubric for other than regents alternatives? How can we assure that, for example, Rochester and Scarsdale school districts have common rating standards? or can districts have their own competency/assessment systems?
In most high schools teachers teach five classes a day, let’s say 25 kids per class, how is it possible to mentor/guide student projects in addition to normal teaching responsibilities?
My questions are the tip of the “question iceberg.”
Perhaps a website to list questions and ask for implementation guidance from “the field?”
How do other nations deal with graduation measures?
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 38 nations, issues periodic detailed reports see here. USA is ranked 18th out of the 38 nations.
Let’s take a look at a few nations: Denmark, Finland, France and China
Denmark is the highest achieving of the 38 OECD nations, examinations determine how students move up the educational ladders, detailed description here.
Finland’s Matriculation Examination is incredibly challenging see here.
And in France, the NY Times reports,
“The high school philosophy exam is a rite of passage for French students. This year included questions about Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1878 book, “Human, All Too Human.”
The French were grappling with two questions this week.
Not whether President Trump would hurl insults and leave the Group of 7 early or who the least-known player in the World Cup is.
Instead, they were asking: Can one be happy when others are not? And, Do we have control of our words?
The questions were part of this year’s written test in philosophy, taken at the exact same time each year around the country by more than a half-million 17- and 18-year-olds. The students, who have spent all year taking a required course in philosophy, have to answer one of two questions, or dissect a philosophical tract. This year, the tract came from Friedrich Nietzsche’s 1878 book, “Human, All Too Human.”
Students have four hours to write their responses. The exam is such an important part of French education that local news outlets commit live-blogs to it, beside their rolling updates on the wars in Iran and Ukraine, and invite philosophers to discuss their own responses to the questions on the radio and television and in newspapers.”
China’s school leaving examination is “notoriously competitive,”
“China’s high school exit exam is the notoriously competitive university entrance exam known as the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination). Taken annually in June by over 12 million students, this intense, multi-day test essentially dictates a student’s entire academic and professional future.”
Is it the responsibility of the school system to assess whether students “learned” the content determined by the system? Is a test the best tool?
Take a look at the January, 2025 American History Regents Examination here Is it too challenging?
Will the changes, the revised Graduation Measures, produce students more able to meet the challenges of our changing world?
A thoughtful and longtime friend muses,
“Humans learn best when they are in the zone of optimal difficulty, when engaged in tasks that are not so hard as to be overwhelming but not so easy as to require no work.
I have always favored keeping Regents exams…continually updating them for relevance, clarity, fairness, stringency, etc.I also favored keeping a system of diplomas that accurately reflected what students have mastered, and to what degree of sophistication and complexity.
Dumbing down “ results in dumbing down.
Lack of opportunities for all students to demonstrate what they have learned, and to what degree they have learned contributes to unfairness. Of course, multiple ways of determining mastery has always been the challenge.
Unfortunately, the ‘challenge’ has frequently been avoided by merely refusing to set meaningful standards, and ways of measuring those standards.”
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 