New York State Regents Standards Are they good or bad
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The new Regents standards, are they good or bad?
"We will not allow our children to be reduced to a single test score," said Jane Hirschmann, an enraged leader of the movement for alternative measures of student achievement (Perez-Pena). Recently, NYS has raised learning standards for high school students. Starting in the fall of 2003, any student that enters school will have to pass five regents exams with a score of 65 or higher, or they will not be allowed to graduate, no questions asked. Two years after the New York State Board of Regents removed the option of a local diploma in favor of more-demanding Regents diplomas for all students, 28 percent of the state's school superintendents, are reporting an increase in dropouts, according to a Cornell survey. Many teachers, administrators, parents, and students feel that this new method to try to improve the quality of education in New York is absolutely outrageous, and feel that the results will speak for themselves. They believe that students' education should not be solely based on test scores for a number of reasons. This takes away educators sense of teaching style, and in essence, forces them to "teach to the test."
The New York State Board of Regents has implemented this new plan because they felt like "higher standards" needed to be met by adding tougher Regents exams to course curriculum, and requiring every student, to pass every exam. All schools, regardless of their mission or constituency will be compared, and graded on these results (Ryan)...