Possible Elimination of Regents in NY

chestnut

Mon, Jul 29 2019, 8:18 pm

Would be great!
https://abc7ny.com/5423604/?ex.....FbXqA

The New York State education department is considering whether to eliminate Regents exams as a requirement to graduate high school.

The state-wide standardized tests designed to measure achievement in high school-level courses.

In order to graduate high school, New York State students must pass Regents exams in five subjects: English Language Arts, math, science, social studies, and any additional option provided by the state.

Some members of the board of Regents, however, have been questioning the exams' purpose. They said eliminating them could improve graduation rates.

"It will be a difficult conversation for New Yorkers. But I and other Regents view it as essential," Regents Chancellor Betty Rosa said.

The matter is expected to be further discussed at a meeting this fall.

Last edited by chestnut on Mon, Jul 29 2019, 8:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

groovy1224

Mon, Jul 29 2019, 9:12 pm

LOL I loved that line 'They said eliminating them could improve graduation rates.'

Yes, eliminating basic standards (what do you need now on the math regents to pass? 25%?) will do wonders for your graduation rates.

chestnut

Mon, Jul 29 2019, 9:23 pm

groovy1224 wrote:

Having a passing grade to graduate will stay. How do all other states do it without Regents?

Amarante

Mon, Jul 29 2019, 9:43 pm

I graduated and as I recall there were two kinds of high school diplomas - one was a Regents diploma which meant you had passed all of the requisite Regents exams and one was just a high school diploma.

I also agree that they are playing games by stating that this will improve graduation rates LOL.

Regents exams just measured basic mastery of what one was supposed to have learned in a given subject - like a final exam. The more difficult exams were Advanced Placement exams which tested at a higher level. I don't know anyone who didn't pass their Regents exams. If you passed the actual class, how could you not pass the Regents in that subject?

momomany

Mon, Jul 29 2019, 9:45 pm

chestnut wrote:

Why is this a good thing?

yersp

Mon, Jul 29 2019, 9:55 pm

Oyyyyy!!! Eliminating the regents???? What a terrible idea (meant sarcastically) how will people be able to promote their school as being a "top top" school if not for regents???!!!

familyfirst

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 12:45 am

Sounds like there was a crisis in number of graduating students, so just let’s lower the bar. Kinda like dumbing down education.
Reminds me of crime rates deceasing in New York... because police are not reporting it.

Iymnok

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 5:04 am

Are there no standardized tests before the SAT in NY? I took Iowa tests in 5th and 8th and some highschool teachers used scantrons for their tests. There are the AP tests as well.
If lack of familiarity in standardized testing is the problem, a class can be given on it. That would be cheaper than a whole testing system.
I heard of a kid whose parents gave him practice SATs from when he was 6 or so. He knew the way it worked so well that he got a perfect score. He had a normal intelligence.

groovy1224

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 7:11 am

chestnut wrote:

Having a passing grade to graduate will stay. How do all other states do it without Regents?

I don't really know anything about the history of the regents and why NY picked them up and no other state did, but the fact is that over the years the state has been dumbing them down and dumbing them down and the proudly advertising the pass rates.
Once that standard is gone, it will be up to individual teachers to pass their students, which makes sense except these same teachers are literally evaluated based on their pass rates, so they will obviously just pass the kids because otherwise they can say goodbye to their pension.

Skippy!!

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 7:26 am

yersp wrote:

Oyyyyy!!! Eliminating the regents???? What a terrible idea (meant sarcastically) how will people be able to promote their school as being a "top top" school if not for regents???!!!

Isn't that a good thing? We wouldn't want every chassidish school to turn in to Satmer. Some of us actually want our children to receive a good education.

behappy2

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 7:42 am

The regents does NOT test well on what was learned. Many of the girls know the material but can't pass the reagents. I think that it's gotten worse and worse.

mom39

Tue, Jul 30 2019, 8:09 am

I am a HS math teacher in NY. When I went to school the regents was worth 100 points. If you got 65 points worth, you got a 65. Makes sense, right?
Today the common core regents is worth 86 points. I would then think that 55 or 56 points should be a 65.(65% of 86). The teachers have to take the amount of points that the child gets (raw score) and then look at a conversion table. Do you know what raw score converts to a 65? 27!!! That means that if someone got a 65 on their regents, they actually got 31%!! Actually,any mark less than an 80 was less than 65%! a P3 pass was raw score of 20 (23%). IMO anyone who can't pass a regent (truly 31%) does not deserve to pass!!

Geometry passing was 30 out of 80 (37%) and algebra 2 (an advanced course) was 26 out of 86(30%)
Next time you hear the mayor saying the passing scores on regents are higher than ever, you'll know why. Lower the passing grade and more kids pass.