Regents examinations in New York are a time honored measure of both competency and success.
Dating back to the 1870s, the Regents set the standard for proficiency in various subjects. Currently, 17 tests are offered to all New York high school students, in everything from algebra to history to French. To receive an advanced diploma, seven must be passed, an admirable yardstick of achievement. The Regents validates the hard work of the student.
Yet, like all governmental agencies in the current financial crisis, the New York State Education Department is considering cuts. Among the proposals: restructuring or eliminating some of the Regents, including the complete elimination of examinations in high school foreign languages and social studies, as well as the elimination of three of the four science examinations and two of the three math examinations. As many as 13 of the 17 exams could be gone.
In addition, the department is thinking of eliminating the January and August administration of the tests, leaving students only one option, June. Also on the cutting table is the immediate discontinuance of translating the examinations into Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean and Russian. These ideas will save money, by some estimates $13.7 million.
Those advocating the cuts may find support beyond the bean counters. Eliminating some Regents exams is a quick way to increase graduation rates. Many teachers would applaud the accompanying demise of the pressure to teach for the test.
But cutting the Regents is a terrible idea.
In this age of educational reform and accountability, how can we even consider tarnishing, much less eliminating, the gold standard of state assessment? Graduation rates may go up, but the prestige of a New York high school diploma will decline.
Our students are not products falling off the assembly line. Each student deserve the best we can offer them. The steady, constant refrain in classrooms and education offices across our great state is . . . “for the children.” Rightly so. We should plan our lessons for the children, we should make every effort for the children, we should be accountable for the children. In that same spirit we must not shrink from the responsibilities of educational leadership, however difficult the financial cost.
Each curriculum — English, math, science, foreign language, social studies — help to create the Renaissance individual that we all hope our students will become. Each subject must have understandable goals, rubrics and assessments. The Regents examination system provides all of these in a clear, already established format.
Rather than cutting out translations, meanwhile, we should expand them. After all the examinations measure the mastery of a subject area and so, in fairness, to reach an accurate assessment of student knowledge, the Regents examinations should be given, if need be, in the language of our student populations.
Simply preparing for the Regents help students get ready for the rigors they will face in college, and perhaps even encourage more kids to apply for higher education.
Most of all it is a question of pride. The Regents make a New York high school diploma something you earn through hard work. They are merit badges of standards.
The children of the state should feel, rightly, that they’ve accomplished something by graduating. Don’t take that away from them.
Patrick Compton is a social studies teacher at Lafayette High School in Brooklyn.