Regents exam results: How Long Island school districts performed on 2023-24 tests in English
More districts on Long Island reported high passage rates on the Regents exam in English during the 2023-24 school year, a Newsday analysis found. Credit: Howard Schnapp
More school districts across Long Island recorded passage rates of 90% or better during the latest administrations of state Regents exams in English, a Newsday analysis found.
A total of 61 districts in the region out of 99 participating hit that mark in Nassau and Suffolk counties during the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the state Department of Education. The number was up from 51 districts the year prior.
In addition, more districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties recorded high rates of students scoring at the "distinction" level — the state's top academic level. A total of 25 districts recorded distinction rates of 70% or more in 2023-24, up from 18 districts in 2022-23.
The highest-scoring districts included North Shore, Jericho, Garden City, Manhasset and Syosset.
Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said that improved Regents exam results reflect districts' spending on afterschool tutoring, summer classes and other programs aimed at helping to make up for learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's just a testament to the resilience of our school systems," he said.
Newsday's review took account of English Language Arts exams taken by nearly 224,000 high-school students statewide, including nearly 38,000 on the Island. The student count focused on those scoring in the "distinction" and "proficient" ranges, the latter being the state's term for passing.
Regents exams are scored at five levels, with Levels 3 and up defined as proficient or better and Level 5 defined as distinction. The latest results are from exams administered in August 2023, January 2024 and June 2024.
In past years, Newsday also analyzed results from Regents Algebra 1 exams. However, the state during the 2023-24 school year revised the academic standards that it uses in developing algebra exams. As a consequence, results from algebra tests could not be analyzed as in the past, either for a single year or in comparisons from one year to another.
For more than a century, Regents exams have served as academic gatekeepers in this state, with high school students usually required to pass four or five of the assessments in order to graduate. All that is likely to change soon, however.
In November, state education officials in Albany announced tentative plans to drop that graduation requirement by the fall of 2027 and to make exams optional. Under a revised system, students would have the choice of demonstrating their qualifications for diplomas either by passing traditional exams or through alternate means such as completing a research project, a job internship or some other mark of achievement.
The plan is pending final approval by the Board of Regents, which sets much of the state's educational policy.
Many experienced educators said they expect that Regents exams, or something like them, will continue to serve major academic roles in their own districts and across the state. One reason for this is that federal law will continue requiring teenaged students to take standardized exams in English, math and science at least once during their years in high school as a means of tracking performance nationwide.
Also, educators noted some students welcome the chance to demonstrate their abilities in a comparative way through testing.
"I think in Jericho there's a motivation on the part of our kids to take standardized tests," Hank Grishman, superintendent of that district, said in a phone interview. "They know they're going to perform well, and they want to show they perform well. So I think standardized tests, Regents exams, will continue to be embraced by the Jerichos of the world."
Grishman is a former president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, representing more than 800 administrators across the state.
But New York's move has received tentative endorsements from state organizations representing unionized teachers, superintendents and school board trustees. Those favoring change contend that the current system gives an unfair advantage to students whose families can afford private tutors, and that it forces teachers to spend undue time prepping students for exams.
"It narrows what can be taught, " said Jeanette Deutermann, of Bellmore, the longtime leader of a regional test opt-out movement.
Anti-testing movements that arose a decade ago continue to show strength in New York and some other areas. In Massachusetts, a state often regarded as having the highest-performing public schools in the nation, nearly 60% of voters in November overturned a major testing initiative.
Specifically, voters approved a ballot proposition banning use of the state's high-school exams as graduation requirements. Testing opponents described the size of the voter majority as a clear sign of public discontent.
"The public was fed up with standardized testing overkill," said one prominent opponent, Bob Schaeffer.
Schaeffer is a longtime director of FairTest, a nonprofit organization that advocates for elimination of what it considers excessive use of standardized exams. Schaeffer grew up on Long Island, then moved to Massachusetts, where his son attended public schools.
FairTest recently reported that Massachusetts' vote, coupled with New York's move toward optional graduation requirements, would eventually leave only six states with mandatory "exit"exams for high-school graduation. Fair Test listed those states as Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
On the Island, a group representing 1,100 social-studies teacher and administrators recently sent letters to all elected legislators in the state, urging them to block efforts by education officials to downgrade the use of Regents exams as diploma requirements. In its letter, the Long Island Council for the Social Studies described the education department's plan as an "ill-defined, dangerous proposal" that would lead to a "crash landing of the state's long-standing system of measurable accountability."
Councilmembers said they fear that state exams in U.S. history and global history will get short shrift under Albany's plan for revamping the system, because such exams are not covered by federal law.
More school districts across Long Island recorded passage rates of 90% or better during the latest administrations of state Regents exams in English, a Newsday analysis found.
A total of 61 districts in the region out of 99 participating hit that mark in Nassau and Suffolk counties during the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the state Department of Education. The number was up from 51 districts the year prior.
In addition, more districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties recorded high rates of students scoring at the "distinction" level — the state's top academic level. A total of 25 districts recorded distinction rates of 70% or more in 2023-24, up from 18 districts in 2022-23.
The highest-scoring districts included North Shore, Jericho, Garden City, Manhasset and Syosset.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- The number of districts on Long Island that recorded passage rates of 90% or better on the state Regents exams in English increased from 51 in the 2022-23 school year to 61 in 2023-24.
- The Island also saw more districts recording high rates of students scoring at the "distinction" level — the state's top academic level.
- High school students have to pass several Regents exams to graduate, but the state has announced tentative plans to drop that requirement by the fall of 2027.
Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said that improved Regents exam results reflect districts' spending on afterschool tutoring, summer classes and other programs aimed at helping to make up for learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It's just a testament to the resilience of our school systems," he said.
Newsday's review took account of English Language Arts exams taken by nearly 224,000 high-school students statewide, including nearly 38,000 on the Island. The student count focused on those scoring in the "distinction" and "proficient" ranges, the latter being the state's term for passing.
Regents exams are scored at five levels, with Levels 3 and up defined as proficient or better and Level 5 defined as distinction. The latest results are from exams administered in August 2023, January 2024 and June 2024.
In past years, Newsday also analyzed results from Regents Algebra 1 exams. However, the state during the 2023-24 school year revised the academic standards that it uses in developing algebra exams. As a consequence, results from algebra tests could not be analyzed as in the past, either for a single year or in comparisons from one year to another.
Making Regents optional
For more than a century, Regents exams have served as academic gatekeepers in this state, with high school students usually required to pass four or five of the assessments in order to graduate. All that is likely to change soon, however.
In November, state education officials in Albany announced tentative plans to drop that graduation requirement by the fall of 2027 and to make exams optional. Under a revised system, students would have the choice of demonstrating their qualifications for diplomas either by passing traditional exams or through alternate means such as completing a research project, a job internship or some other mark of achievement.
The plan is pending final approval by the Board of Regents, which sets much of the state's educational policy.
Many experienced educators said they expect that Regents exams, or something like them, will continue to serve major academic roles in their own districts and across the state. One reason for this is that federal law will continue requiring teenaged students to take standardized exams in English, math and science at least once during their years in high school as a means of tracking performance nationwide.
Also, educators noted some students welcome the chance to demonstrate their abilities in a comparative way through testing.
"I think in Jericho there's a motivation on the part of our kids to take standardized tests," Hank Grishman, superintendent of that district, said in a phone interview. "They know they're going to perform well, and they want to show they perform well. So I think standardized tests, Regents exams, will continue to be embraced by the Jerichos of the world."
Grishman is a former president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, representing more than 800 administrators across the state.
Jericho Schools Superintendent Hank Grishman Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
But New York's move has received tentative endorsements from state organizations representing unionized teachers, superintendents and school board trustees. Those favoring change contend that the current system gives an unfair advantage to students whose families can afford private tutors, and that it forces teachers to spend undue time prepping students for exams.
"It narrows what can be taught, " said Jeanette Deutermann, of Bellmore, the longtime leader of a regional test opt-out movement.
Jeanette Deutermann Credit: Johnny Milano
Dispute over 'exit' exam mandate
Anti-testing movements that arose a decade ago continue to show strength in New York and some other areas. In Massachusetts, a state often regarded as having the highest-performing public schools in the nation, nearly 60% of voters in November overturned a major testing initiative.
Specifically, voters approved a ballot proposition banning use of the state's high-school exams as graduation requirements. Testing opponents described the size of the voter majority as a clear sign of public discontent.
"The public was fed up with standardized testing overkill," said one prominent opponent, Bob Schaeffer.
Schaeffer is a longtime director of FairTest, a nonprofit organization that advocates for elimination of what it considers excessive use of standardized exams. Schaeffer grew up on Long Island, then moved to Massachusetts, where his son attended public schools.
FairTest recently reported that Massachusetts' vote, coupled with New York's move toward optional graduation requirements, would eventually leave only six states with mandatory "exit"exams for high-school graduation. Fair Test listed those states as Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
On the Island, a group representing 1,100 social-studies teacher and administrators recently sent letters to all elected legislators in the state, urging them to block efforts by education officials to downgrade the use of Regents exams as diploma requirements. In its letter, the Long Island Council for the Social Studies described the education department's plan as an "ill-defined, dangerous proposal" that would lead to a "crash landing of the state's long-standing system of measurable accountability."
Councilmembers said they fear that state exams in U.S. history and global history will get short shrift under Albany's plan for revamping the system, because such exams are not covered by federal law.
