At Long Island educators conference, worry over the future of social studies amid plan to de-emphasize Regents exams
Deputy State Education Commissioner Angelique Johnson-Dingle speaks during a presentation Friday in Melville. She said the state's changes in graduation requirements would be gradual and done only after further discussion with educators on the Island and elsewhere. Credit: Dawn McCormick
A spirited debate over Regents exams erupted Friday at an educators conference in Melville, as social studies teachers peppered top state education officials with questions regarding their push to drop the tests as graduation requirements.
State education officials say they want to give students more options for earning diplomas, and many teachers endorse that goal in principle. Still, doubts linger over details of the state's plan, and that skepticism surfaced Friday at the conference sponsored by the Long Island Council for the Social Studies.
One teacher, Victoria Buonpane, who spoke up at the conference session, expressed concern that schools could start cutting back instruction in subjects such as history and government if the state drops exam requirements in those areas. Buonpane teaches global history.
"I know that's not what you're trying to do," Buonpane told two state officials who fielded questions and comments at the session. "But New York is going to be killing social studies education as other states are already trying to do."
Another audience member, Charles Backfish, who runs a training program for social studies teachers at Stony Brook University, pointed out that the trainees he works with must pass an exam in order to obtain state certification.
"I think there's a contradiction here, that we're asking teachers to pass a standardized exam, but we're not asking students," Backfish said.
Later, one of the state's representatives, Angelique Johnson-Dingle, a deputy commissioner for pre-K through 12 instructional support, said the state's changes in graduation requirements would be gradual and done only after further discussion with educators on the Island and elsewhere. The other representative was Frances Wills, a member of the state Board of Regents from Westchester County.
"The Regents exams are not disappearing," Johnson-Dingle said. "We aren't getting rid of them because, believe it or not, when we're talking with students, there were students who said, 'I actually like to take tests, I'm a really good test taker.' So we don't want to take that option away from students. But what we want to do is say that this should not be the only determining factor."
Federal law requires academic testing in high schools for purposes of measuring student achievement but does not require that students pass such tests in order to graduate.
On Nov. 4, state education officials are scheduled to announce a specific time schedule for putting new diploma requirements into effect. Leaders of the Regents board and state Education Department have already said the ultimate goal is to drop Regents exams in English, math, science and history as requirements, and to add other options. Some options mentioned would allow high school students to earn credit toward graduation by taking job internships, performing public service or completing research projects.
Toward the end of Friday's session, Johnson-Dingle got applause from listeners after pledging to meet with them again locally after the Nov. 4 announcement. Among those pleased was Gloria Sesso, of Port Jefferson, president of the regional social studies council and a leading opponent of the state's proposal to de-emphasize use of Regents exams.
"The audience felt that they had been heard, and that the state was going to try to solve some of the problems," Sesso told Newsday.
John Hildebrand is Newsday's senior education writer and has covered school news and policy issues affecting Long Island for more than 40 years.
