By Aaron Strow
As the school year has begun and students are adjusting to their routines, a major announcement from the New York State Education Department has sparked debate among students and teachers in Irvington High School. Starting with the class of 2028, passing the Regents exams will not be a requirement to earn a high school diploma. While many students have celebrated this news, believing it could reduce stress for examinations, I think this could be detrimental as some honors classes may give their own finals that match the rigor of its course.
It is undeniable that standardized tests, like the Regents, have been given immense criticism regarding their mechanisms. According to WXXI News, state education officials voted to remove the exam requirement after determining that “no single test can tell the complete story of what a student knows and can do.”
However, I believe that removing this critical test can open doors for honors classes to begin designing their own finals to match the difficulty of a class. By implementing new tests, there will be an alternative effect: students may face more grueling final exams rather than a predictable Regents test.
Potsdam Central School District Superintendent Jerry Griffin highlights this conflict, noting that transitioning away from Regents examinations creates questions regarding “how consistently that will be implemented across New York” and if honors class assessments will remain “understandable to colleges, employers, students, and families”.
Robbie Stein, a junior at Irvington High School said “I’m worried that honors teachers will just make their own final exams even harder now that there’s no Regents test”.
I think this change would end up increasing student anxiety instead of reducing it. Rather than studying for a state-wide test that has predictable questions and a multitude of questions, students in honors courses will have to prepare in a more unique way. Furthermore, this implementation could also lead to inconsistent grading across counties that will make it more difficult for colleges to assess students.
Ultimately, while putting an end to Regents examinations may seem as beneficial for struggling students, it could create new challenges for honors students who did not see anything to gain from this new addition.
