New York may ease Regents
requirements while holding to
federal test mandate
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COURIER LIFE, FEB. 26-MAR. 4, 2021 27
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
School districts in New
York state will still be required
to administer standardized
tests this year
despite the pandemic, but
offi cials are working to
waive the exams graduation
requirements and cancel
some tests altogether.
On Feb. 22, the Biden
administration announced
states would not be given a
blanket waiver for federally
required exams but
schools could administer
shorter or remote versions
of the exam as well as extend
testing windows.
New York State Education
Department offi cials
responded by saying they
were “disappointed” in the
decision but said the federal
government “made
the right call” in stating
that no student should be
made to come to school to
take an exam and agree
that exam results would
only be used to measure
student learning.
As a result, NYSED plans
to propose a number of modifi
cations to state exams
during its next Board of Regents
meeting in March including
waiving federally
required Regents Exams as
a graduation requirement
and canceling all non-required
Regents Exams.
“USDE agreed to uncouple
state assessments from
accountability measures so
no school will be affected
by the results of state assessments
and the results
will solely be used as a measure
of student learning,”
said NYSED spokesperson
Emily DeSantis in a statement.
“Given these circumstances,
the Department
will propose a series of regulatory
amendments at the
March Board of Regents
meeting so Regents Exams
would not be required to
meet graduation requirements
and to cancel any Regents
Exam that is not required
by USDE to be held.
New York state is required
to give annual standardized
tests to third
though eighth-grade students
and high school students
are required to pass
fi ve Regents exams in a
math, science, social studies,
and English but state offi
cials last month requested
a waiver from the federal
education department to
exempt third through 12thgrade
students from taking
state exams this spring.
Offi cials argued that
amid the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic standardized
tests could not be “safely, equitably
and fairly administered
to students in schools
across the state,” Board of
Regents Chancellor Lester
W. Young Jr. said in a statement.
Last year, NYSED offi -
cials canceled June, August
and January 2021 Regents
exams due to the pandemic
and allowed some students
scheduled to take Regents
in order to fulfi ll the graduation
requirements to forgo
exams.
Many teachers who have
largely opposed administering
the exams during
the pandemic supported the
state’s proposal.
“In a year that has been
anything but standard,
mandating that students
take standardized tests just
doesn’t make sense,” said
president of New York State
United Teachers Andy Pallotta.
“As the educators in
the classroom, we have always
known that standardized
tests are not the best
way to measure a child’s
development, and they are
especially unreliable right
now. We need to ensure that
our students who have been
hit hardest during the pandemic
receive the support
they need. Sizing up students
with inequitable and
stressful exams is not the
solution.”
Education