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A big story around here is that New York is getting set to abolish its Regents exams, designed to ensure students' proficiency in high school, and replace them with yet-to-be determined, "holistic" exams.
There are smart people on both sides of this issue. And then there's me.
I'm against abolishing the Regents exams for a few reasons, almost all of which were relegated to the cutting room floor for yesterday's report on New York Fox 5. Here are the highlights/lowlights, depending on your perspective:
- If you don't have a means to demonstrate proficiency, how can you measure whether students and teachers accomplished desired educational goals? What will a high school diploma mean other than a participation trophy and evidence that you showed up?
- If you can't measure and track success, nobody wins. I want to lose weight but it's hard. I guess I'll just throw out my scale so I don't feel badly.
- There's a strong argument that this policy is actually racist. At minimum, it's condescending. We're telling underprivileged kids that they're not good enough to perform well on these exams, so we're abolishing them instead of addressing reasons why. Standardized tests like the Regents, SAT and ACT were designed in large part to allow talented kids of all economic and ethical backgrounds to SHINE and stand out. Now, there could be one less opportunity to do so.
- It's getting harder for admissions officers to evaluate whether students are prepared to succeed academically in college. High school grade inflation is rampant, the SATs and ACTs are optional.
- Regents exams aren't that hard to begin with. What does it take to pass an Algebra Regents? A score of 20%.
- 26% of 8th graders are proficient in math. 31% in reading. ACT scores are at a 30 year low. In math, the US ranks below China, nearly all of Europe, Estonia, the UK, and Canada. In reading, the US is near the average, but behind Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Ireland and Poland. Can any reasonable person see this data and conclude, "Well, we better get rid of the tests!"?
I hope that the Regents are here to stay, but there are bigger fish to fry.
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