By Chris Cerf
This piece originally was published in the NJ Education Report.
New York education officials recently unveiled a plan to eliminate the state’s highly respected Regents Exams, a longstanding requirement to earn a fully recognized high school diploma. Lawmakers in New Jersey are considering a last-ditch effort to eliminate the state’s graduation exit exam in their lame-duck session ending in mid-January.
The trend is evident across the country as more and more states essentially have no objective measure for graduation eligibility other than course completion, which is notoriously meaningless given rampant grade inflation, and other highly manipulable “soft” criteria.
As a former state education chief and urban superintendent, I strongly oppose these changes. They will lower the bar for students, make it harder for them to succeed beyond high school, and undermine what should be our shared national commitment to assure equitable educational opportunity for all students regardless of zip code or demographics.
As a former state education chief and urban superintendent, I strongly oppose these changes. They will lower the bar for students, make it harder for them to succeed beyond high school, and undermine what should be our shared national commitment to assure equitable educational opportunity for all students regardless of zip code or demographics.
The Regents Exams have been a cornerstone of New York’s educational framework for more than a century, serving as a benchmark to gauge students’ mastery of essential subjects. To graduate, most students earn 22 credits and pass five Regents exams in subjects such as English, math and social studies.
The New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment measures whether students are prepared to graduate based on their knowledge in grade 10 of English language arts, Algebra 1 and Geometry. The test is the primary pathway for graduation.
The decision to eliminate these exams appears to stem from a desire to reduce inequity and promote a more “holistic” understanding of students’ capabilities. “Holistic” or “whole child” are words that accountability opponents ritually invoke as an alternative to making sure every child can read and do math, the proven building blocks of a successful post-graduation life. In reality, transitioning highly regarded measures of student proficiency from mandatory to optional—or eliminating them altogether—will undermine the ability to maintain rigorous academic standards and ensure all students are adequately prepared for the challenges they will face after high school.
