The New York State Board of Regents recently announced that seniors graduating in Summer 2027 would be the last class that would be required to pass Regents exams in order to graduate. New York State’s new policy focuses on a competency-based diploma requirement in subjects, as opposed to standardized test scores.
New York is now one of 39 states that allow students to receive course credit on the basis of competency; however, it is only the eighth state to incorporate this basis into its graduation requirements. For instance, Virginia requires students to demonstrate strong foundations in five “C” areas before graduating: critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, citizenship, and communication. No connections have been linked yet between these new approaches and student outcomes post-graduation.
Some have called New York’s new approach groundbreaking. However, data suggests that Regents exams no longer being a graduation requirement is less effective than it may appear. Regents exams were waived following the onset of the pandemic, and these numbers exposed how many students were not passing prior to the pandemic. A whopping 96% of graduating NYC Public School students needed at least one waiver in 2022, followed by 94% in 2023.
This number dropped to 53% in 2024. Nonetheless, these numbers raise an interesting question: If this gap has already been identified and students have begun to recover from it, why is New York following suit with other states and making Regents exams optional? Literacy rates continue to be in a steady decline nationwide, and New York has the second-highest percentage of adults lacking basic literacy skills at 22.1%, behind California at 23.1%. Despite some remaining in support of New York’s new graduation requirements, opponents would argue that these statistics and the lack of sufficient alumni outcomes do not offer the proper education the next few graduating classes require, and will do greater harm than good to students in the long run.
