The “Regents Exams” in New York State were once a mark of accomplishment for students who chose to take them. They were considered rigorous and prestigious. But sometime in the 1990s, State Commissioner Richard Mills decided that all students should pass the Regents to get a high school diploma. The standards had to be lowered, so that there was not massive failure. Passing the Regents was no longer a badge of high accomplishment.
Now the Regents are debating whether to keep, change, or dump the high school exit exams. Research shows that high school exit exams lead to decreased graduation rates and dropouts. Not surprisingly.
The Albany Times-Union reported:
ALBANY – Members of the Board of Regents debated the value of the Regents exams Monday as part of an overall planned examination of the state testing system and graduation requirements that had been delayed due to the pandemic.
“Maybe the Regents exams are not the be-all and end-all,” said Regent Roger Tilles during a meeting that also included a presentation about how students graduate high school in other states and countries. “We have kids that can’t pass a Regents exam but pass all their courses. Should they be denied a future because they can’t pass a Regents test in one area?”
But the rigorous exams get students prepared for the future, argued Regent Catherine Collins.
“I hope the state does not get rid of the Regents,” she said. “I was fortunate enough to have the Regents science diploma, which gave me the foundation to go into health care.”
The discussion comes after graduation rates increased during two years without Regents exams, due to the pandemic. For now, the Regents are back, but a Blue Ribbon Commission is expected to weigh in on new high school diploma requirements next year. The commission was announced in 2019, but the pandemic led to a slowdown and the commission wasn’t named until last year.
The state Education Department said in an email to the Times Union later Monday afternoon that “the Board was not debating whether to eliminate Regents exams. Rather, they were discussing a 166-page report that has been in the making for three years and heard a presentation based on (the) report’s literature review, policy scan and stakeholder feedback….”
In 2019, Education Commissioner Betty Rosa made it clear that she did not think the Regents exams are “working” for every student, and questioned whether the tests improved college readiness, among other factors. She has pressed for alternative paths to a high school diploma, including career and technical programs.
At Monday’s meeting, she urged the Regents to have an open mind.
“We really have to take into account not what worked for us, but what will work down the road,” she said. “At the end of the day, our job is to keep in mind what our students need for the future.”
Chancellor of the Board Lester Young, Jr. was adamant that the board make no decision right now.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I took Regents exams in high school. They were, at the time, well-constructed samples of what students were expected to learn in various science and math subjects, as well as English, history and another language. They were developed by teachers and did not have floating cut scores (at least 65 out of 100 points were needed to pass). They were designed to reflect a basic curriculum. We did not see them then as a form of tracking.
Perhaps, today, these exams have become an anachronism. Education has become more free-form and the limits of gatekeeping, high-stakes testing have come to public concern.
IMHO, SED should go all in on what Ann Cook has done in NYC with her consortium schools and the way they assess student performance. It’s the antithesis of one size fits all. If, as history proves, teaching and schoolwork are tied to testing systems, then we need the best approach to measuring the diverse ways students demonstrate achievement
LikeLike
When I took the Regents exams they were in fact a sort of tracking, because you could opt for the Non-Regents diploma. Those who were set on trades or other non-college careers often did so. Nationally back then only 50% of grads enrolled in college [45% in 1960, 55% by mid-‘80s; near 70% now].
I agree that they were a gold standard for assessments. Teacher-created with organized regional teacher feedback; new questions were field-tested for 3 yrs. In my day, students were aware and proud that NYS and CA were [then] considered to have the best pubschsystems in the nation.
LikeLike
Why do students fail to graduate in NYS? The State does not compile that data!! Asking schools: failing courses, chronic absenteeism and ESL students who entered school in middle and high school years, the Regents Examinations, written by teachers and reflecting curriculum are NOT the cause of failures to graduate, yes, identifying low performers early and intervening is crucial, perhaps an alternative pathway for late entrant ESL students, an alternative pathway for students with cognitive disabilities… the highest performing nations in the world have rigorous exit exams and the constantly highest ranking state on the NAEP, Massachusetts, the MCAS exam while NYS is far down the NAEP list.
How will lowering standards help students?
Supporting students in earlier grades should be at the core of the work of the Board of Regents, too many states simply lowered the bar, sadly pushing students into the workplace unprepared- a failure of leadership.
LikeLike
Sadly, in Massachusetts, the state board wants to raise the passing score on the state’s MCAS, without which students are denied a high school diploma. Four years of passing grades across the curriculum, as judged by multiple classroom teachers isn’t enough of an indicator, apparently.
Of course, the test is administered in English and students are required to test after one year in Massachusetts, regardless of their English language proficiency. 11% of our students are working in English as a second (or third) language, so they are especially disadvantaged by this policy.
At a hearing on the topic, only 4 speakers spoke in favor of the new policy while dozens of educators and legislators spoke against it. But the Walton-affiliated board has doubled down. Charlie Baker, who did not seek re-election as governor and his Secretary of Education, Jim Peyser, replaced two board members in an effort to extend the policies into the new, more progressive administration of governor elect Maura Healy. Healy opposed Question 2 in 2016 to expand charters and is in favor of using a much broad lens, the MCIEA, to assess school performance.
Good coverage here:
https://www.baystatebanner.com/2022/11/16/changes-possible-in-state-education-policy/
LikeLike
“For the sake of generations to come,
we must all look inward, reflect on
our own actions, and ask ourselves
whether we are setting the example
we want our children to follow.
We must acknowledge and take
responsibility for how our
actions affect others.”
So when it comes to the myths
held dear,the flags,the marks
of concocted notoriety,
we need to ask, who benefits,
who suffers?
.
LikeLike
It was always unrealistic that all students should pass The Regents Exam. It was originally intended to be a note of honor for higher achieving students. My husband received a Regents scholarship, which was not a lot of money, but it may have influenced his ability to gain entrance to a highly competitive university.
When the NYS made passing the Regents a requirement for all students, they failed to grasp the consequences. My foreign students and classified students were relegated to receiving a “certificate of attendance” instead of a bona fide high school diploma. They were punished for being different and made to feel unworthy. These students should not receive an academic diploma, but they should receive a general diploma or some other alternative diploma. A high school diploma is a gatekeeper and currency in the world at large, and many of these students were denied post high school opportunities because of the state’s reckless decision under the guise of “accountability.”
LikeLike
In the mid-nineties 3/4 of students were receiveing the Regents Competancy diploma (RCT) and the business communitty was loudly complaining that RCT diploma srudents were receivng high school diplomas w/o literacy and numeracy skills. After two years of discussion the state moved to the single Regents diploma and phased in single diploma over ten years, adding a number of alternative pathways, 85% of students receive Regents diplomas.
an alternative pathway for ESL students who pass subjects is under discussion, the core question: should NYS lower standards to increase graduationo rates or identify and support students likely not to pass course/Regents Exams as they progress through the grades
LikeLike
New York already decided to lower standards when it decided to lower the threshold for passing The Regents. It is inconceivable that after so many years what to do about ELLs is still up for discussion. Cutting them off from opportunity based on a test is not the solution. Lots of these young people have lots of potential despite the fact they may not be ready to pass a particular test.
LikeLike
ELL students who score out on the NYSLAT graduate and achieve high than students in general, the problem is kids who enter in the 6th grade or later and leave school for work
LikeLike
Bring back a non-regents track.
LikeLike
To hell with the standards and testing malpractices!
LikeLike
I took the old (pre 90’s) regents exams and they were a joke.
We spent weeks taking previous years’s tests, which were actually not very difficult and they rarely varied the questions by very much from one year to the next.
The people behind these tests claim they make graduation requirements “objective” but exactly the opposite is true.
Requiring that someone pass state tests to graduate from high school makes the whole thing into a very subjective process because the state can make the tests as hard or easy as they want and they don’t even have to be consistent from one year to the next.So it all depends on the judgement of the people making up the tests and setting the cut scores.
And requiring that everyone pass an algebra test to graduate from high school is just goofy.
The vast majority of people will never — ever — use algebra after high school.
I realize many university mathematicians probably believe every high school graduate should know algebra (and probably calculus as well), but it’s just that: a belief. There is no rationale behind it.
Of course, people!e who are going to study math or engineering and certain sciences like chemistry and physics should take algebra and as many math classes beyond as they can in high school. But that’s a different issue entirely.
LikeLike
SDP,
The scoring of the Regents tests is arbitrary. There is no set passing mark. It varies by subject from year to year.
LikeLike
Nope, no longer “arbitrary.” the grading is staticitacally adjusted to reflect the “difficulty” of tje test, the same methodology as other “standardized” exams
LikeLike
Project-based assessment is faced with inter rater reliability …. remember the highest scoring nation on PISA, a test administered to OECD nations, the highest ranked nations give challenging exit exams, Finland and France, just saying …
LikeLike
While “Statistically adjusted” might not mean arbitrary, it certainly doesn’t mean “objective.”
“Statistically adjusting” results so that one gets the results one believes are “correct” (based on some subjective criteria) is just too funny.
LikeLike
The “passing score” on a Regents exam might be only 35% correct, or 40%. But the public isn’t told that.
LikeLike
In New York State, after 22 plus years of assessments based upon the rigor of IRT (Item Response Theory), I’m sadly amazed at the extent of educator’s ignorance with regard to what is mainstream modern testing and measurement theory.
The NYS Regents Assements (as well as the 3-8 ELA and Math assessments) use IRT. This encompasses massive efforts to design, nominate, and evaluate the reliability, validity, and bias (Differential Item Functioning) of new questions for three iterations every year (June, August, and January) of new exams because unlike other states, the regents assessments are released after each administration.
Establishment of cut-points to determine Proficiency is done once prior to each new assessment when learning standards are changed. Once administered, the item difficulty of each question is then known and expert teachers in their specific field are then brought together. By utilizing the well established Book Marking methodolgy these educators bring consensus to their expert judgement as to the difficulty of the ordered (easiest to hardest) set of questions. Their decision then reflects students’ minumum Profiency in the content area.
Once this is done, all future assessments are mathematically equated. Hence, in June 2018, 22 questions correctly answered might mean Proficency. In June 2019, 20 questions may mean Proficency. All this means is the 2019 assessment is harder. This is demonstrated through the process of equating. The process has to stand up in a court of law – that is, this regents exam is a High Stakes test. Failure to pass this assessment may mean a student will not be permitted to graduate with a diploma.
None of these assessments have ever used raw score to determine percent correct! Unfortunately, teachers and their administrators (perhaps even members of the Board of Regents) still believe otherwise.
This methodology is used on all GRE, SAT, LSAT, Civil Service or any other standardized test.
New York schools must not lower its graduation standards to return to Regents or School Diploma. The School Diploma was not worth the paper it was written on (but it did give a 98% graduation rate). The Regents for All Diploma assured minumum proficiency and demonstrated literacy and numeracy abilies.
Perhaps readers might want to reflect on the redefinition of high school. Leon Botstein, president of Bard College, wrote a provocative book in 1997, entitled Jefferson’s Children.
LikeLike
So, you are saying that if a student passes all his courses but not the Regents, he or she should not earn a diploma.
I think there should be differentiated ways to earn a diploma. Passing the Regents would be one. Not the only one.
LikeLike
Absolutely correct!! Some teachers fault tests, the tests accurately reflect the standards/curriculum and are a guide to teaching, to simply throw out valid and reliate assessment is opening the door to throwing out the need for skilled teachers and public schools …
LikeLike
When I was in high school in Texas many years ago, there were no exit exams. If you took the required courses and passed them, you graduated from high school.
LikeLike
The Equity Coalition argues that w/o Regents or other standardized the racial/ELA/ poverty disparities would disappear as well as funding to the neediest students, schools would “pass along” kids to get out of the spotlight
LikeLike
Ed in the Apple– France is not a high PISA scorer despite the feared bachau. In 2018 they ranked #26, just behind #25 US. The two nations were #’s 5 & 6 on the 22-country “middle” list [450-500 pts]. 20 nations were in the high-scoring group, and too many to count in the low scores. France is consistent: they came in #25 in both 2012 and 2015. US has improved; we were #36 in 2012, #31 in 2015. We’ve lost a few pts in Math though; these are aves of Math, Reading & Science.
LikeLike
“Statistically adjusted” results in a nutshell
Scores went down on average from last year, which you assume must be because the test was harder this year, so you adjust the cut score down to counter that.
It’s all perfectly logical.
Logical bullshit.
LikeLike
Don’t get me wrong.
Proper statistics are important in science.
But the people who do this psychometrics crap for a living give statistics a bad name.
LikeLike
I should have said “so you statistically adjust all the scores to counter that”, which has the net effect of adjusting the cut score down for this year’s test.
It’s a way of adjusting the cut score without admitting you are adjusting it.
In other words, its deceptive.
LikeLike
Here’s an interesting piece on the differences between states when it comes to high school graduation requirements. Here’s what the piece says about exit exams:
“Exit exams are a newer tool being used by high schools across the country today, in fact, many schools require minimum exit exam scores as a condition of grade promotion and or graduating. By the same token, many states have dropped the exit exams entirely.”
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/high-school-graduation-requirements-by-state
LikeLike
Chek out the American History Thematic Essay and the scoring guide for the below – is it appropriate?
Click to access ushg12020-rg1.pdf
LikeLike
Any objections to statewide exams in grades 4, 8 and 12 modeled after the NAEP exams? Not used to compare students or schools–but reliably reflective of trends in achievement. I have a proposal on how to emulate NAEP and get instructional value out of test results without causing harm to humans.
LikeLike
“. . . get instructional value out of test results without causing harm to humans.”
Ay, ay, effin ay!
That “instructional value” that you say can be obtained is, as Wilson says-‘vain and illusory’. Or as I put it-pure bullshit!
See Wilson’s “A Little Less than Valid: A Essay Review” at: http://edrev.asu.edu/index.php/ER/article/view/1372/43
From that essay:
“To the extent that these categorisations are accurate or valid at an individual level, these decisions may be both ethically acceptable to the decision makers, and rationally and emotionally acceptable to the test takers and their advocates. They accept the judgments of their society regarding their mental or emotional capabilities. But to the extent that such categorisations are invalid, they must be deemed unacceptable to all concerned.
Further, to the extent that this invalidity is hidden or denied, they are all involved in a culture of symbolic violence. This is violence related to the meaning of the categorisation event where, firstly, the real source of violation, the state or educational institution that controls the meanings of the categorisations, are disguised, and the authority appears to come from another source, in this case from professional opinion backed by scientific research. If you do not believe this, then consider that no matter how high the status of an educator, his voice is unheard unless he belongs to the relevant institution.
And finally a symbolically violent event is one in which what is manifestly unjust is asserted to be fair and just. In the case of testing, where massive errors and thus miscategorisations are suppressed, scores and categorisations are given with no hint of their large invalidity components. It is significant that in the chapter on Rights and responsibilities of test users, considerable attention is given to the responsibility of the test taker not to cheat. Fair enough. But where is the balancing responsibility of the test user not to cheat, not to pretend that a test event has accuracy vastly exceeding technical or social reality? Indeed where is the indication to the test taker of any inaccuracy at all, except possibly arithmetic additions?”
LikeLike
Duane, Glad to see you’re still communing with Wilson and still in touch with your feelings.
LikeLike
Read Wilson and learn, eh!
Critique the reading. Give us what you’ve got!
LikeLike
I knew that when Mills required those 5 regents exams to graduate that my son would not get a high school diploma. Luckily he was able to get a GED.
I worked with numerous students from the Buffalo Public Schools and there was no way they could get a 65 (even with the “adjustments”) although they had a better chance when the passing score was 55.
This policy did more harm than good. Plus,now you regents exam diploma from the 1970s means nothing.
LikeLike
Now the GED is owned by Pearson who makes lots of money when students fail the exam. Pearson is another gatekeeper that keeps vulnerable young people trapped behind a gate. These are young people that may not be able to go to community colleges, trade schools or apprenticeship programs because Pearson is holding on to the key to more opportunities. This country used to be about second chances and opportunity for all. Today, everything is about how much opportunity your bank account can afford to buy people.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There are several reasons why I retired last June from teaching in New York State, but the Regents exam system ranks at the top of the list.
What was always ridiculous and embarrassing, had become preposterous and humiliating.
No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top blah, blah, blah…. Those empty phrases still make me want to throw up.
I can’t speak to the other Regents Exams…
But I taught high school history, government and economics for 34 years. “Social studies” has become lunacy. No wonder why our culture ended up with Trump.
Thank God for Diane’s blog and the thoughtful people on here for exposing the utter derangement of what standardized testing has become.
I ran into a couple former students at McDonalds the other morning. They asked me if I missed school. I said I miss them….not the Regents exams.
I was lucky to know so many wonderful students. They give me hope for the future each morning I wake up.
LikeLike
I have heard this refrain from almost every retired teacher. Love the kids, could not abide the system
LikeLike
Yeah, I went to a great dinner tonight honoring students, teachers and community members who have helped the youth of our county. Wow, what stories.
And, NOT ONE test score mentioned.
LikeLike
Actually, now that I think about it this morning, I stand corrected.
Someone did mention Regents scores in the process of describing a wonderful student. But the standardized tests were referenced in passing, in the sense of, ‘Look at all the great things this kid has done on top of doing well on those exams -nuisance that they are in life and whatever they really mean’.
BTW ever wonder what happens to all those exam essays that students are forced to write? What incinerator fire they feed? What landfill they are buried in? What hole in the ocean they fill? What a colossal waste of human energy.
If only I had the talent of this blog’s resident poet: “Where have all the test essays gone….”
LikeLike
Where has all the writing gone
Long time etc
Its gone to landfills every one
when etc
Where have all the landfills gone etc
they’ve gone to subjects…
Where have all the subjects…
….to complements
complements….
verbs to be….
verbs to be….
writing
LikeLike
It makes me very angry that the folks who are behind the testing fraud are driving out teachers.
And fraud is exactly what it is.
When people commit fraud in business, they go to jail (at least when they are not wealthy or President)
Maybe we need similar laws in the education area.
We might start by prosecuting all the people who advocated and were involved in the VAM scam. Bill Gates and Arne Duncan would be high on the list.
LikeLike
We must provide a broad, not exclusive education.
LikeLike
Don’t know about the not exclusive part, but isn’t a Broad education what the LA school board has ben trying to provide for some time?
LikeLike
And not surprisingly, Broad Academy also provides a Broad education for those wishing to be administrators.
LikeLike
A Broad Education
A Broad education
Is what the desire
For all of the Nation
To light a fire
A Broad education
Consuming all
A conflagration
Is Eli’s call
LikeLike
If Broad had his way
Every street
Would be Broadway.
You could rely
On Eli.
Would he lie?
LikeLike
Much to my chagrin, my school has a bunch of activities planned for students: a catered picnic, a visit to a theme park, a dance, movies, awards. assemblies… Rewards. Thing is, if you’ve failed a class or been sent to the dean for discipline, you don’t get to participate. Instead, while everyone else is celebrating, you get detention. Punishment. Chagrin.
This is the problem. Education is not supposed to create winners and losers. Education must be broad — broadly delivered. If education becomes Broad with a capital instead of lower case ‘b’, there are winners and losers.
So yes and no, Eli Broad was and still remains the problem with his neoliberal winners and losers, but his name rhymes not with broad but with toad. A Broad education makes schools implode.
LikeLike
I teach in New York City, and as far as I am concerned we are virtually indentured to this damn test. If I were a betting man, I would wager that the publisher of this test, and its lobbyists in Albany, had everything to do with hanging this albatross around our necks.
LikeLike
When I worked in the federal government in the early 1990s, lobbyists for the testing industry attended every public meeting and were constantly on the prowl to protect and advance the biz.
LikeLike
Imagine my surprise! Thanks Diane.
LikeLike
When I testified at the NYS Senate Truth-in-Testing hearing (c 1982) regarding the need for disclosure of test-related statistics relative to college admissions (read SAT), it was interesting to hear ETS arguments against providing research information (item analysis data, the coachability of what ETS labeled an aptitude test, differential results for subgroups…). To provide transparency would be too costly and would limit the timely production of gatekeeping exams essential to screening students.
But it was also fascinating to hear Stanley Kaplan, test prep genius, gloat about how his courses boosted Verbal and Numerical results by 50 points. He nimbly exposed the “aptitude” myth, while at the same time he did not want to kill ETS’ golden goose. Without ETS thriving as an enterprise on behalf of the College Board, reaping millions in non-profits, Kaplan could not continue to game the system and build his empire.
LikeLike
I began my career in NYC as an ESL science teacher in 1995. I’m retiring next year after spending the past two decades in upstate NY under the one-size-fits-all reforms of Dick Mills. Much has changed. Grading programs, Test Wizard, and Castle Learning have turned classes into an accountability treadmill for students and teachers. On the other hand, the course I’m teaching this year, Earth Science, is unique to NY, and has been mostly the same for half a century. It is a really well designed curriculum; it doesn’t need much in the way of reform. I thoroughly enjoy teaching it.
I’ve been “teaching the test” for a long time. I tell myself at least it is a good test. But for many students, they are turned off by tests and relentless test prep, some groan when I tell them to take out their chrome books for another round of CL. Many of my students want and need a local diploma. I could have spent years tailoring my classes to these student needs. For my college bound students, the system basically works, at least in three of the four high schools I’ve worked in.
LikeLike
Regents exams are an expense to taxpayers and not worth the paper they are written on! Kids need to graduate, and can graduate with honors, if they excel at school. There is no need to require regents exams on top of school. I have a regents diploma and I didn’t get the job, or get any special favors for having one. They were just extra tests that were a BIG waste of time! Kids on other states don’t have this excessive burden, and neither should we! Save money and end this ridiculousness.. some kids can barely pass school, and you are denying them a diploma! That is wrong and ruining kids lives , and you sit in Albany proud of yourselves !
LikeLike
ESSA, the federal statute requires annual 3-8 tests in reading and math and also in high school, states use the SAT, ACT or Smarter Balanced, the test is not required for graduation however the disaggregation by groups (race, special Ed, ESL, school and school district, etc) are public. Regent exams are constructed by teachers and past exams are available online. Would the abandonment of Regents exam lower standards and devalue a diploma? Are more graduates with reduced skills be positive?
LikeLike
Do v Reegents exams improve skills?
The New York Perrformance Consortium has a good approach.
Students take the English Regents and the other subjects are by portfolio.
LikeLike
The Consortium schools are small and structured (flexible block scheduling) differently, in the vast majority of high schools teachers teach five periods a day, 30 kids in a class, 150 kids, portfolios are not possible… schools would have to both redesign structure ( small schools within schools) and the instructional models, a major step
LikeLike
Regents exams used to be only for kids who chose to take them. Now every student must take them to graduate.
Not surprisingly, the standards for passing the Regents have been lowered.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to have multiple pathways to graduate?
LikeLike
For decades NYS had a dual track, the local diploma, requiring the Regents Competency Test (RCT), about middle school level, and Regents diploma, requiring passing five Regents. In the early 90s the business community began to complain, kids were graduating with the RCT diploma and limited literacy and numeric skills and it was commonplace to track kids. Regents diplomas kids were overwhelmingly white. About ¾ of kids graduated with the local (RCT) diploma, after a two year discussion the Board began to phase in the Regents only diploma. The Regents grade was reduced to 55 and incrementally raise back to 65, the English Regents change from two days to a single day, Global Studies from covering two years (9th and 10th) to 10th only and added a number of multiple pathways See here http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/multiple-pathways, Students w/ Disabilities are eligible for a superintendent’s determination See here http://www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/appeals-safety-nets-and-superintendent-determination, The NYS graduation rate continues to edge upward, now at 85% …
Can you add additional “valid and reliable” pathways w/o lowering standards?
Are the Regents Exams getting easier? The most recent American History Regents, the Thematic Essay and the multiple choice sections below
Are these questions too easy?
Most Recent American History Regent
Essay:
Click to access ushg12020-rg1.pdf
Multiple Choice:
Click to access ushg12020-examw.pdf
My concern is kids “tracking” kids into “easier” pathways to increase graduation rates; we have unpleasant names for these practices.
LikeLike
https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2023/1/19/23562593/ny-english-language-learners-regents-exams-graduation-rate-immigrant-students
LikeLike