New York school officials planning for four Regents exams in June
State education officials are looking at plans to administer four Regents exams in June. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
New York education officials acknowledged for the first time Tuesday that they will administer four Regents exams statewide in June, should they fail to obtain waivers from Washington, D.C.
This would mark the first resumption of state testing since last spring, when Albany canceled tests in grades three through eight and also at the high school level, in response to closures of schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a memo Tuesday to local school superintendents and principals, the state Education Department advised that schools should prepare for the likely June administration of Regents exams in Algebra I, English Language Arts, Living Environment and Physical Setting/Earth Science.
Traditionally, high school students have been required to pass such exams in order to graduate. However, the department has been considering a regulatory change that would drop that requirement at least temporarily.
Kimberly Young Wilkins, a deputy state education commissioner who signed the memo, said the four exams will be administered to comply with a federal rule that all students be tested at the high school level in English, math and science. Wilkins noted, however, that the department had sought a waiver from such testing, because it did not feel this could be accomplished "safely, equitably and fairly" amid a pandemic and frequent school closures.
"The department believes that school instructional time would be best focused on supporting students in academics as well as social-emotional health rather than attempting to administer assessments to the limited population of students who are receiving in-person instruction," Wilkins wrote.
President Joe Biden's administration has pressed for resumption of nationwide testing, however, on grounds that score results will help inform the federal government on whether students are falling behind in their lessons. Administration officials have added that this also will help them direct billions of dollars in promised financial aid to schools in greatest need.
Roger Tilles of Manhasset, who represents Long Island on the state's Board of Regents, said the likely resumption of testing raised multiple questions over whether results were likely to be reliable amid the stresses of the pandemic, and whether parents would attempt to have their children opted out of assessments.
"There are questions I think need to be answered," Tilles said.
John Hildebrand is Newsday's senior education writer and has covered school news and policy issues affecting Long Island for more than 40 years.
