Chalkbeat’s Philissa Cramer reports that Betty Rosa, Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents, wrote that it is time to reconsider the Regents exams.
Students must pass five Regents exams to graduate high school.
New York is one of only 11 states with high school exit exams.
Board of Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa published a column in an online newspaperaccessible to members of the New York State School Boards Association suggesting that the state could one day do away with the graduation tests it has used since the mid-1800’s.
“Regents exams have been the gold standard for over a century – and with good reason,” Rosa wrote in February. “But our systems must be continually reviewed, renewed, and occasionally revised in order to best serve our students and the people of this great state….
The column laid out no timeline for possible changes. (State education officials did not answer additional questions.) Rosa wrote that she would ask the two-year-old Regents Research Work Group, launched to identify ways to diversify New York schools, to study the state’s graduation requirements. Part of the group’s charge, she said, would be to “examine current research and practice to determine … whether state exit exams improve student achievement, graduation rates, and college readiness.”
The research on that point is clear. As Matt Barnum reported in 2016, studies have found that graduation tests do not result in better-prepared graduates and actually harm some students, especially low-income students of color.
For much of their history, the Regents exams were intended for the college-bound. Students who did not take the Regents exams could graduate by taking a competency test of basic skills. In 1996, State Commissioner Richard Mills pushed through the idea that all high school students should be required to pass the Regents exams. He and the Board of Regents assumed that setting the bar higher would raise achievement for all.
Once a mark of distinction, the Regents exams were watered down when they became a universal requirement.
A single standard for all will never be a high standard. The failure rate would be politically intolerable.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is long overdue time to reduce testing in New York. I started teacher as an ESL in an NYS high school in the mid-1970s. When I started the Regents exams were for college bound students only. Before I left the high school in the late ’70s, the Regents Basic Competency Test was required for graduation. This became a problem for my ELLs since the test was only available in English, and most of my students were newcomers. However, failing students could still get a local diploma at that time. A few years later after I had thankfully moved to the elementary ESL position in the same district, the state decided to raise the bar The new slogan was “All roads lead to the Regents.” In order to not fail large numbers of culturally different students, New York watered down the Regents exams.
New York should face the fact that not all students are going to college, and this is not due to “low teacher expectations.” Some students are better off in a quality vocational track. We also need carpenters, electricians, plumbers, welders, nurses aides and variety of other non-college vocations. We should look at what Germany does with its vocational education as they do a much better job.
I am so tired of this high-stakes test insanity. Just because China and South Korea is test crazy, doesn’t mean the U.S. has to follow.
“Lessons for the United States
“And within these concerns about Chinese education voiced by Chinese parents and educators there lay at least three lessons for US educators, policymakers, and parents:
“Don’t obsess over US students’ performances on international tests like PISA and TIMMS. Test scores don’t tell the entire picture of a nation’s intelligence, economic prowess, or their future. Learn from the strengths of other national systems–such as offering decent wages to educators and respecting the teaching profession–but embrace and strengthen our own. Blanket adoption of policies and routines from East Asian (or any other) countries is a recipe for disaster.
“Make sure children have time (at home and school) to play. Play is being increasingly recognized as a vital aspect of cognitive, social, and physical development in young children, and has even been recognized by the United Nations as a right of every child. At home, resist the temptation to over-schedule and over-subscribe children, especially out of fear for his or her academic and professional futures. Give them time to run around the woods, climb trees, and play capture the flag for hours on end.
“Understand that a competitive workforce in the 21st century will exhibit strengths in creativity, problem-solving, and lifelong learning. Around the globe employers are asking for a similar set of competencies in the workforce of the future: technically astute graduates who are also proficient at problem solving, identifying creative solutions, and continually learning new things. Developing such competencies in students will serve them well not only in the labor market, but also in their capacities as citizens of a participatory democracy.”
https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2016/07/creativity_gap_the_effect_of_testing_on_chinese_education_and_parenting.html
The Regents were a fine standard for the college bound before Richard Mills came along and ruined it. Obviously a universal standard meant watered down scores (hence the scaled scores so 30 points or less becomes “passing” in Math) plus the Regents are no longer even a fair test of knowledge – at least in Math.
Why are people like Richard Mills never held accountable for the disaster they create?
“The Regents were a fine standard for the college bound . . . ”
The Regents, being a standardized test suffered, and still do, all the onto-epistemological errors and falsehoods and psychometric fudgings shown by Wilson in 1997 that render the usage of the results COMPLETELY INVALID.
Oh, but I know that statement will be met with cries of derision by those here who think that NY’s Regents test were something “special”. They weren’t and aren’t. A bucket of manure still smells even after a good dousing with some cheap perfume.
Your point on test validity ignores the fact that taking tests is a cornerstone of the academic and professional experience. It is never going away because you and Wilson do not have a better alternative other than an academic crapshoot. Tests may not be able to precisely measure knowledge and skills, but they do provide a pretty good sense of whether a kid can follow math algorithms, balance a chemical equation, write a coherent sentence, and knows the three branches of our democratic republic. Its no fluke that GPA and test scores are highly correlated.
A cornerstone? Ha ha ha, the jokes on you, except that the joke is actually on the innocent, the students. Standardized testing most certainly isn’t a “cornerstone”, it’s a random brick in a wall of an edifice of ignorance.
Tell me, how did the USofA become the supposed top dog nation of the world in the 19th and 20th centuries without that supposed cornerstone?
I’ve given my alternatives many times here before. And no the tests do not “measure” anything at all whatsoever. The concept of a standardized test being a measure is one of the major lies of the whole standards and testing malpractice regime.
So it appears that you believe that lying with pseudo-scientific language is just fine and dandy. That’s pretty sad.
I’d agree that “its (sic) no fluke”. What exactly is that high correlation, though? Please give us that correlation and the study (ies) that supposedly show that correlation.
And finally, “It is never going away”. As I used to tell a student when he/she said the he/she would “never use Spanish, why should I do the work?”: “I’m glad that you can see the future. When you turn 21, please contact me and I’ll take us to the boats (casinos), provide the monies and we will become rich.”
And as my mom used to say when she knew I wanted to do some cockamamie scheme: “Just because everyone is jumping off the roof doesn’t mean that you should jump off the roof.”
Show your true self. Why do you hide behind a pseudonym? Are you afraid to show who you are?
One final thing: Refute or rebut what Wilson and I have to say. . .
. . . I’m waiting. . .
. . . but I know that you won’t!
And not only that you won’t but you can’t.
I agree that tests are not “measuring instruments” but they do indicate whether or not a person has a degree of competency in a particular field. Would you really want a person designing the bridge you drive over every day if they couldn’t pass a test in civil engineering? Would you want to be represented by a person who failed the Bar exam? How about a surgeon who couldn’t pass A&P?
No, they don’t “indicate whether a person. . . ”
Your bridge example is quite facetious as designing a bridge is a major undertaking involving many people so that IF there was someone who designed it that didn’t have that “test certification” it wouldn’t matter because there are many checks and balances on the design process.
I’ve represented myself in court and won more than once. I never passed a Bar exam.
Now, I don’t know what the A&P test is. Please give the full name. I cannot comment on something that I don’t know about except to say that becoming a surgeon is nearly a decade long process and by the end of the process those who would not be a good surgeon are weeded out. Does the test include actual surgery? If not then it is no where near inclusive enough to determine the skill and expertise of a surgeon.
See how easy it is to rebut your arguments?
You are also ignoring the value of tests to motivate students to study and learn. That’s even more important than the score itself. How would you and Wilson motivate students in your imaginary world without tests?
Yes, some students are motivated by the tests, no doubt.
I never used a test/quiz/assessment to “motivate” students. I used assessments so that the students could better learn and to better know where they were at in the learning process.
It’s very sad that a student would need a test to motivate them. . . . We certainly have not been doing our job as teachers if that is the case.
But I suspect (actually I know) that using the test as a motivator is part of the problem with schooling these days, and has been for quite some time. What you can’t teach the subject matter at hand, having the students desire on their own (intrinsic vs extrinsic motivations-we know which is far more effective) to learn? It’s a sad world to have to use stick and carrots (can you say behaviorism?) to “motivate” students. I never considered it to be a part of my job to force a student to be motivated.
If you truly would like to be considered a “Rage(r)AgainstIgnorance” may I suggest that you read and comprehend what Wilson and I have to say.
In a perfect educational landscape we would have 50 million self-actualized learners with an insatiable curiosity about every subject, all eager and willing to learn without extrinsic motivation. In the absence of this perfect world, a world in which tests can’t measure precisely, they do continue to provide concrete goals for students and they do motivate learning.
A&P is Anatomy and Physiology; you wouldn’t want that surgeon taking out your kidney instead of your appendix now would you?
Again your example of a surgeon “taking out your kidney” is ludicrous, even risible as one doesn’t get to that level of schooling without that knowledge. When mistakes are made in the surgical realm it is almost due to the hubris of someone insisting they “know” what needs to be done. That is why every legitimate operating suite has overlapping process protocols in place to prevent those mishaps.
Seems to me that almost every human being is a “self-actualized learner with an insatiable curiosity. . . ” . . .
. . . until they have been conditioned out of it by poor parenting or with decent parenting they reach the formal school years and are told by the powers that be (teachers/adminimals) that they can’t do certain things. No doubt that the current state of public education kills that intrinsic motivation.
To suggest that we should keep using COMPLETELY INVALID educational malpractices such as standardized testing because it is a motivating factor for a few is, well, quite frankly, insane and laughable.
Again, why the pseudonym? What consequences are you so afraid of that would drive you to not show your real self?
Without knowing who you are it’s hard to have a decent conversation as I find it very difficult to “play nice” with someone who refuses to be open and up front in who they are.
I graduated waaaay beck. We chose to take the Regents tests, and high scores were rewarded by subsidies or scholarships. They paid my tuition for four years, and I was thankful. That level of support is no longer available. Many of my friends chose not to go that route, and led fine lives in the trades, or in service, or in the military, all of which they could start to explore in high school. We didn’t ALL have to march off to college, and high school wasn’t so damn narrow in directing kids to a fulfilling future. I realize some were tracked due to race or gender which led to the current push for college readiness for everyone, but the better answer is to open doors to all sorts of possibilities to all our kids. We all have talents, and not everyone finds fulfillment in academia.
“Students must pass five Regents exams to graduate high school.”
This isn’t really true. The correct sentence would be:
“Students whose parents are not rich enough to spend upwards of $50,000 year on their private school tuition and thus attend public schools must pass five Regents exams to graduate high school.”
Students whose parents are rich enough to buy them a seat in a private high school can have the private school staff whose salary is dependent on their parents’ largesse certify to colleges that all their classes are far superior to any Regents (or AP class) and colleges should consider any passing grade in a course taken at their private school as sufficient certification of that student’s extensive knowledge of the subject.
Or, as Leona Helmsley would say, only the “little people” take Regents.
It’s nice that Rosa has evidently figured out what every working teacher has known for years. It would be nicer if she also recognized what total crap the NYSESLAT is, and what an egregious disservice she has been doing to the ELLs of NY State by doing absolutely nothing to reform CR Part 154. I will grant that she has passed lip service to it from time to time, but neither she nor her fellow Regents has lifted a finger to reform the cut in direct English instruction, by a factor of 33-100%, to some of our most needy students. How she or any of them sleep at night is a mystery to me. If I were a Regent, I’d change my name and move to another state post haste.
HERE IS WHY THE “EXIT EXAMS” ARE IMPORTANT: They keep “the herd” pointed in the same direction. How do you know what is being taught in a particular class? You don’t!! But when the scores come back and they are bad, attention is drawn to that instructor. Knowing that, teachers hue to a syllabus. The syllabus directs instruction. It’s that simple. Without that direction, educators are all over the map. There is a reason why states with exit exams have more successful college students than those without. Keep those exit exams!
The Regents exams also provide students with a very concrete, attainable goal, a point of focus that kids need. Returning to the pre-Mills Regents tests/policies would be a step in the right direction. Adding a few additional pathways for high school success for the less academically inclined would make the K to 12 experience much more inclusive.
Found a partner for your very flawed thinking, eh!
Still quite a few questions you refuse to answer from our discussion above. Please answer them.
“There is a reason why states with exit exams have more successful college students than those without. Keep those exit exams!”
I was interested in seeing where David-S got the facts, the source, that supports the quote above from David-S so I fact checked and found nothing, nada, to support David-S’s unsupported claim.
“States that have graduation tests for the high school class of 2019:
Florida
Louisiana
Maryland
***** Massachusetts *****
Mississippi
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Ohio
Texas
Virginia
and Washington, a total of 12. Some allow appeals or alternatives.”
https://www.fairtest.org/graduation-test-update-states-recently-eliminated
States with the highest ratio of college graduates:
“Here are the 10 states that had the highest percentage of college students enrolled compared with the overall population.” NOTE: you will see only one state on this list that also has an EXIT EXAM proving David-S totally WRONG!!!!
New Hampshire
Washington D.C.
Utah
West Virginia
North Dakota
Kansas
Nebraska
Rhode Island
Minnesota
**** Massachusetts *****
https://www.asumag.com/top-10s/states-most-college-students-percentage-population?full=1
You misread the post. David did not claim that having HS exit exams increases college enrollment; he claimed that those student who go to college are more successful once they get there; i.e.better prepared academically.
But he still didn’t provide any links to reputable sources to support his allegations. I did. Until David-S does that, his claims are just claims, sort of like snorting out of one side of your nose to clean out the mucus.
“How do you know what is being taught in a particular class? You don’t!!”
Horse manure!
Taught for 21 years and I knew, and could tell anyone interested in knowing exactly what I was teaching at any given point in the semester. As a matter of fact we had to document the daily lesson plans. No “standards” no standardized test to supposedly “guide” me. Didn’t need that supposed guidance. You know why? Because I was a professional and conscientious teacher just like the vast majority of teachers I ever knew.
Your under/back handed slap at teachers is also horse manure. Have you taught for more than a year or two? How about 10?
“Without that direction, educators are all over the map.”
Again, horse manure. Perhaps you were “all over the map” if you actually taught. But I sense that you haven’t done much teaching.
“There is a reason why states with exit exams have more successful college students than those without.”
Please provide the studies that prove or show your opinions. Not that I expect to see any.
I patiently wait.
Thanks, Duane for your reply to David-S, because you reminded me that for my 30 years of teaching (1975 – 2005), teachers like me had to do a lot of planning that was linked to California’s state standards that predated the Common Core Crap. Teachers met by departments to identify the areas of those state standards that were weak, based on the previous years annual testing before the rank-and-punish came along after NCLB. We met to share methods that worked and support each other to plan powerful lessons designed to teach.
Back then, the goal was to use that kind of data to help us in our departments and classrooms to become more focused on what to teach, after we learned student strengths and weaknesses.
I never taught a day without a lesson plan that was linked in some way to skills my students were supposed to learn at each grade level.
Teaching was never a game of roulette or a wild-west rodeo like David-S makes it sound. Teaching was always detailed and organized and planned and implemented with a lot of work and thought.
My teaching day was five to six hours a day but my work week ran between 60 and 100 hours a week including the 25 to 30 hours of teaching. It takes a lot of time to plan those lessons and correct the student work and then use what we learned from correcting student work that sometimes included teacher made tests to plan future lessons.
Here is the evidence for continuing “exit exams”. The states that have just rushed to pass the NEW laws re: abortion have legislators SO IGNORANT as judged by their own utterances, THAT THEY MAKE MY POINT!
David, I have long believed that people running for ifficeshould be required to pass eighth grade tests in Reading, math, and civics. Also the citizenship test that is required of new citizens. Why do we test kids, teachers, professionals but not the people who write our laws?
If they can’t pass a SCIENCE test they should not be writing environmental, energy, or reproductive legislation/policy.
RAI,
The fact is in this country there very few “qualification” to run for elected office and passing some dude’s/gal’s personal little idea of a qualifying test is worse than silly, actually quite preposterous.
Wow, how ignorant of a statement of reasons for “continuing ‘exit exams””.
It’s impossible to make logic leap that far.
Ay ay ay ay ay ay.