Tuesday, February 4, 2020

FAQ for parents and teachers on Regents "exit exams" and why they should be eliminated

Update:  The sessions in Manhattan and Bronx were cancelled because of the pandemic.  The Regents plan to resume this process sometime this summer.

The Board of Regents and the New York State Education Department are re-examining the use of Regents "exit exams" as a requirement for high school graduation, and are holding a series of regional public sessions to gather input from parents, teachers and other stakeholders before making any changes to the current policy.  These meetings will be held in Brooklyn Feb. 26-27;  Queens on March 10, and Staten Island on March 11. Additional meetings have been added in Manhattan on March 23 and March 31, and the Bronx on March 24.

UPDATE: These sessions have been postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and will be rescheduled in the future.

The full list of sessions statewide is posted here, along with times and locations.

NY State Allies for Public Education and Class Size Matters have prepared the following fact sheet to inform parents in preparation for these sessions.  It summarizes the research showing the negative impact of exit exams on drop out and incarceration rates, and the fact that in recent years, most states that once required them have now eliminated them.

If you want your voice heard on this critical issue, please attend these meetings while bringing copies of the fact sheet to share with other parents, and/or email the State Education Department to express your views at GradMeasures@nysed.gov.  Thanks!



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I earned a superior grade on my regents and standardized exams than what the teacher in class gave me. As a result of regents exams and standardized exams I passed my classes (and got a reevaluated better grade) otherwise I would have failed or attained a lower grade. For example, in physics my regents grade was superior to the grade the teacher wanted to give me- a black teacher who could not speak English and was an awful teacher. As a result of my regents exam, the teacher had to pass me and give me a better grade. Another example is foreign language. I woke up every day afraid that I would fail foreign language. Without the New York Foreign Language Exam, the teacher could have taught unrelated materials and gave biased preference for native speaker of the "foreign language". The standardized exam leveled the playing field and allowed me to pass a course that I thought I was going to fail. I support 100% the New York Regents exams from 2000- 2006 as role model for all standardized exams in the country. I oppose SAT I. However, I support SAT II specialized subject tests (bio, chem, math I, etc). I also support AP exams. The SAT I does not test anything other than how you perform on SAT I. However, the regent exams clearly measure your aptitude of knowledge for the course material and are an excellent measure of student achievement. The real reason for student academic failures are DRUGS (ie marijuana use, heroin use cocaine use, etc) and Gangs (the suppliers of drugs and guns and prostitution).