NY Cancels Many Regents Exams This Year

If you have students in high school who are enrolled in regents courses, they can breath a bit of a sigh of relief.

According to reports, New York's Board of Regents will be canceling many of the tests for the current school year. That means students must only pass their courses to advance to the next grade or graduate. However, they're still scheduled to take four federally mandated tests on the topics of algebra, English, living environment and earth science.

When I was in high school many many years ago, my twin sister and I had the advantage of taking classes together and, in most cases, having a study partner most of the time. My father was also a high school teacher so we had the added benefit of getting some help at home as well with our courses. But even with all of that, I still remember stressing over the worry of not passing the regents exams. There was a summer that I had to take a few extra hours of math lessons because I failed a regents math test. I feel like I still have a few nightmares about that exam!

In an article from The Times Union, it is stated that:

The Regents tests will also not be a requirement to earn diplomas this year; students must simply pass their courses to graduate.

The pandemic is still very real and as we move from winter to spring, there is a hope that things will get back to a more normal look. Hopefully by the fall and the next school year, students and teachers can also find more normalcy in the classroom!