An effort to phase out the Regents exam as a high school graduation requirement reached a major milestone on Monday, when the New York State Board of Regents authorized a plan under which current seniors will be last who must pass the test in order to earn a diploma.
The board’s approval kicks off a final push to turn the proposal — which has been in the pipeline for some time, but still lacks specifics — into an actionable plan over the next year, including long-awaited guidance for schools to implement the sweeping changes.
“For years, we looked at what elite private schools provide for their students, and they do not worry about the Regents exam,” Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa told the Board of Regents during its monthly meeting in Albany.
“This state really needs to stop putting our kids in coach or a little extra legroom, but rather putting them in first class or business class — I’ll take business class. But the only way that we can get there is when we stop thinking about teaching to the test.”
State education officials told the board that earlier this year, schools and districts were directed to start developing and “put on paper” local assessment strategies to be shared publicly during the 2027-28 school year. Depending on the school, those methods can incorporate the Regents exam or be expanded to some combination of class assessments, daily coursework, teacher observations, and real-world tasks.
Separately, the plan authorized on Monday also paves the way for New York to move to one diploma, instead of three categories of diplomas that currently exist: local, Regents, and Regents with Advanced Designation. Graduates can still prove they went the extra mile in high school with certain seals and endorsements on their diplomas.
Agency staffers said work will begin “immediately” to develop guidance for schools and regulatory amendments, which will be proposed in February. If the current timeline can hold, the board is set to vote in June on the changes to the regulations, which would go into effect at the start of the 2027-28 school year.
Regents exams will still be used to gauge how students are meeting state standards in core subjects, but not whether they’re ready or not for a high school diploma. That’s a welcome change to many members of the Board of Regents.
“There are young people right now that graduate from high school, have done everything we told them, and they don’t have a diploma,” Lester Young, chancellor of the Board of Regents, said during the meeting. “There’s something wrong with that.”
Beyond graduation requirements, the Education Department plans to move forward with the development of “high school accountability assessments.” Officials pledged to share more details with the Board of Regents later this fall.
New York is among the last states with mandatory high school exit exams, as research cast doubt on if high-stakes standardized tests were a good predictor of college and career readiness.
But it’s not clear yet what will replace the exams and ensure that schools are not conferring diplomas to students before they’re ready for college and careers. After the monthly meeting, at least one education advocacy group called on the Education Department to pause the roll out.
“New York should not tear down the measuring stick before it builds a better one,” EdTrust-New York said in a statement late Monday afternoon. “We appreciate the updates provided at today’s Board of Regents meeting, but the state still has not explained how it will establish a clear, consistent, and equitable way to determine whether students have the skills they need to succeed after high school.”
But state education officials so far have said they plan to move ahead.
“Let me be very clear: This has nothing to do with lowering standards,” Zachary Warner, assistant commissioner for the Education Department’s Office of State Assessment. “This has nothing to do with expecting less of our students.”
“We need to provide evidence that students are ready to succeed in the life that comes after high school — and this is not something a Regents exam was ever intended to do.”
