New York’s race to the bottom in education continued apace Monday, as the Board of Regents scrapped the requirement that the state’s high schoolers actually learn something to graduate.
For 30 years, students needed to pass at least four Regents exams — in math, English, science and Global Studies — to earn a diploma. To be clear, this standard was the barest minimum. The governing board kept lowering the score needed to pass the tests, watering down the results.
But it was something: A tangible requirement — a responsibility — that showed we as a state cared about accountability.
And that’s exactly the word that the Teachers Union hates. It meant parents and politicians would start to question why a whopping 15%-20% of students didn’t meet graduation requirements. Testing highlighted bad instructors and bad schools. As usual, COVID is partly to blame here. The Regents board “temporarily” lifted requirements during the pandemic, and graduation rates rose to 87% in 2022. When the Regents tests returned, the state rate fell to 85%. The city’s: 81%. It was the largest year over year percentage drop in 20 years.
Hellbound and Down 