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New York to Allow All Students to Graduate High School, Regardless of Readiness for the Real World


They’re really going to do it — scrap the Regents exams that have been a staple of New York education for more than a century and a half.

On Monday, the State Education Department presented its timeline for ditching the exams; the Board of Regents is now expected to green-light it.

The plan is to simply award “diplomas” to all students, whether they’ve learned enough to function beyond high school or not.

It’s great news for public-school insiders, who’ll finally be relieved of any remaining pressure to see that students get the education they’re owed.

The kids, on the other hand, get screwed.

It’s been a bit of a bait-and-switch: Within living memory, the state allowed two tracks to a diploma.

For the more prestigious Regents diploma, the student had to pass five Regents exams to graduate; other kids could earn regular diplomas by meeting less rigorous academic standards.

Then came a lunatic “everyone should go to college” approach, and the state moved toward requiring all kids to pass the exams — which soon led to SED watering the tests down.

Now comes another retreat: Under the plan, students who began high school this year, or begin it the next two years, won’t have to pass any of the tests, though they’ll still be required to take them.

By the 2027-28 school year, no one will even have to take them, let alone pass.


New York's Board of Regents chancellor Lester Young Jr. speaks to members of the state's Board of Regents as they vote in favor of the P-12 consent agenda including the adoption of revised statewide rules that private schools, including Jewish Yeshivas, face stricter enforcement of long-standing requirements that they provide academic instruction "substantially equivalent" to that in the public sector, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, in Albany, N.Y.
Board of Regents Chancellor Lester Young Jr. insists ditching the Regents exams is necessary to ensure “equity.” AP

And, the killer: Every kid will get a “diploma” — a sort of certificate of participation — but the separate Regents Diploma no longer exists.

And no one will be able to hold schools accountable for too many failing scores.

Yes, there’ll still be some soft graduation “requirements,” such as completing a “project” or an “internship.”

But these new “pathways to graduation” won’t show that a student has acquired basic skills, particularly in reading and math — because some kids won’t have acquired them.

But graduation rates will soar.

The educrats will then boast of having “improved” those rates and shrunk the racial gap among kids who “earn” diplomas.



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