New York may ease Regents
requirements while holding to
federal test mandate
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Caribbean Life, FEB. 26-MAR. 4, 2021 33
By Alejandra O’Connell-
Domenech
School districts in New York
state will still be required to
administer standardized tests
this year despite the pandemic,
but officials 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 officials 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 modifications
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 nonrequired
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 eighthgrade
students and high school
students are required to pass
five Regents exams in a math,
science, social studies, and
English but state officials last
month requested a waiver from
the federal education department
to exempt third through
12th-grade students from taking
state exams this spring.
Officials 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 officials
canceled June, August and January
2021 Regents exams due
to the pandemic and allowed
some students scheduled to
take Regents in order to fulfill
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