Regents Examinations
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Regents Examinations, or simply Regents, are a set of standardized tests given to high school students through the New York State Department of Education, designed and administered under the authority of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York. Regents exams are prepared by a conference of selected New York teachers in each test's specific discipline, three years before the tests' issuance, and are administered in a rigid manner: each exam will have printed on its cover the date and time of when the examination is to begin, and the proctor for the exam has specific guidelines regarding students leaving the room during the tests and regarding the handling of the tests. These proctoring guidelines have caused some controversy, such as issues regarding fire alarms.
In 2005, the Board of Regents began modifying the Mathematics curriculum. An integrated approach that taught geometry and algebra in all three years with concepts being taught at higher levels in later years was replaced by a more traditional sequence of Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. Accordingly the "Math A" and "Math B" exams were eliminated and replaced by "Integrated Algebra", "Integrated Geometry", and "Integrated Algebra II and Trigonometry".
In order to graduate with a regents diploma, students are required to have earned appropriate credits in each category. Students are also required to pass, i.e. achieve a score of 65 points or more, on all required Regents examinations. Below is a chart that displays graduation requirements in New York State; grade level "notations" are listed as a regular grade level, not as advanced classes.
Contents |
[edit] Overall Regents Exam Methodologies
[edit] List of Exams
The following New York State Regents Exams are administered:
- Mathematics
- Math A - roughly corresponding to Algebra I
- Math B
- Science
- Earth Science/The Physical Setting
- Living Environment
- Chemistry/The Physical Setting
- Physics/The Physical Setting - only offered in January and June
- Languages other than English, only offered every June
- Spanish (Offered every January and June)
- French
- Latin
- German
- Italian
- Russian
- Japanese
- Chinese
- Modern Hebrew
- Social Studies
- Global History and Geography
- US History and Government
- English Language Arts
- Comprehensive English
[edit] Regular Regents Diploma
| Subject | Regents Credits | Required Exam(s) | Grade in which exams are usually taken (most often in June, unless otherwise noted) |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 4 | English Language Arts | Grade 11 (usually in January) |
| Social Studies | 4 | ||
| Mathematics | 3 | Math A | Grade 10 (usually in January) |
| Science | 3 | ||
| Foreign Language | 1 | / | / |
| Art, Music(combined) | 1 | / | / |
| Health | 1/2 | / | / |
| Physical Education | 2 | / | / |
| Electives | 1 1/2 | / | / |
[edit] Regents Diploma with Advanced Designation
| Subject | Regents credits | Required Exam(s) | Grade in which exams are most often taken, usually in June unless otherwise noted |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | 4 | English Language Arts | Grade 11 (usually in January) |
| Social Studies | 4 | ||
| Mathematics | 3 | ||
| Science | 3 |
|
Grade in which they take the course. (i.e. Living Environment Grade 9; Earth Science, Grade 10; Chemistry Grade 10 or Grade 11; Physics Grade 11 in most cases) |
| Foreign Language | 3 | Comprehensive Foreign Language of the student's choice. | usually Grade 11, or after equivalent of three years of study |
| Art & Music(combined) | 1 | / | / |
| Health | 1/2 | / | / |
| Physical Education | 2 | / | / |
| Electives | 1 1/2 | / | / |
[edit] Required Exams
Students in New York State must pass five Regents Exams (Math A, Global History and Geography, U.S. History and Government, Comprehensive English,and Living Environment exams) with a score of 65 or better in order to receive a Regents diploma. If a student scores 85 or better on a Regents examination, they are judged to have achieved mastery level. If a student has an average of 90 or higher on all regents exams taken, a Regents diploma with distinction is awarded.
By passing the additional exams (Math B, a second science and a foreign language), students earn a Regents Diploma with advanced designation, which may also be awarded with distinction if all exams are passed with a grade of 90 or better.
Some students choose to take additional Regents exams -- for instance, an additional science or two, or an additional foreign language. Such exams will be noted on a high school transcript, and may of course be taken into account by colleges and universities in evaluating a student for admission, but they are not formally recognized on the diploma.
Students who pass only the minimally required exams, and only with a grade of 55 or better, do not receive a Regents diploma, but what is designated a local diploma. Such diplomas are slated to be phased out -- in fact, the Board of Regents has already announced that they will no longer be awarded, in order to require that all students meet a higher level of academic achievement, but the date for the phase out has been pushed back a number of times so as of June 2006 it is still unclear when awarding of the local diploma will actually end.
[edit] Formats
Most Regents examinations are offered every January, June, and August. All Regents exams are three hours long except the Comprehensive English exam, which consists of two separate three-hour exam periods over two consecutive days. Also several of the language regents have oral exams which are administered before the written test and are not part of the three hour time limit.
Most Regents exams are structured in a two-part format: A multiple-choice section (Part I), which is usually between 30-50 questions, and a long-answer/essay section (Part II), which consists of either a selection of detailed questions for which the work must be shown (for math and physical sciences), or a set of essay topics, of which one or two must be written about in detail (for the social sciences). Foreign language exams include a third section on listening skills (with passages read aloud by a proctor ), and the history exams include a section of short responses (a sentence or two) on primary documents. For both social science exams, two essays are now required and students do not get a choice as to which essay to answer.
[edit] English Language Arts
The English Regents requires four essays, each structured differently. Combined, they are intended to assess students' abilities to read, write and listen for:
- information and understanding,
- literary response and expression,
- critical analysis and evaluation, and
- social interaction,
as per the state's standards for English Language Arts.
The exam is administered in two three-hour sessions, usually on different days. There are four separate parts.
- Part I-A: A passage is read aloud to students twice, from which they may take notes. They must then answer approximately five multiple-choice questions and then write a persuasive essay, following several guidelines for a specific audience based on information in the passage.
- Part I-B: Students must follow guidelines to write another persuasive essay, and answer 5-10 multiple-choice questions, incorporating information based on two documents. One is a written passage typically almost two pages in length, the other is a chart or table.
- Part II-A: Students again develop an essay on a general theme from two different documents, one prose, the other a poem. There are also approximately ten multiple-choice questions, the most on any section of the test.
- Part II-B: This final section is known as the "critical lens" essay. Students are provided with a brief quotation, the critical lens, which they must then use as the basis for an essay interpreting two literary works of their choice, often ones they have read in class. There are no multiple-choice questions on this section.
[edit] Exemptions from the Regents Exams
During the 1990s, some alternative assessment schools, similar in character to charter schools, were founded in parts of New York in an attempt to provide a way for students to graduate high school without taking any Regents Exams. Usually, the substitute graduation assessement involved would consist of the review and grading, by a panel of teachers, of an academic portfolio, or collection of the student's best work from all his or her years at the school. From such a "portfolio examination" would be issued a "Regents equivalency" grade for the areas of Math, English, History, and Science, and a "Regents Equivalency" diploma would be awarded to the student at commencement.
However, by the end of the 1990s most if not all of these self-labeled "alternative schools" have been forced to adopt some or all of the standard Regents Exam, and can no longer use portfolio examination criteria as the sole basis for graduation from the school. A notable example of this progression from full portfolio-based assessment to nearly-total Regents Exam based assessment is The Beacon School.
Though all public schools are required to follow either the Regents Exam system or the above mentioned alternative assessment, private schools may or may not. Most private schools do use Regents exams, and award Regents diplomas, but some private schools -- particularly academically prestigious ones -- do not, on the argument that their own diploma requirements exceed Regents expectations. For instance, high schools run by the Jesuit order of Catholic priests (for instance, Regis High School (New York City), Xavier High School or Canisius High School (Buffalo)) have not used Regents exams for decades.
Additionally, in some schools, individual students can be exempted from taking the Regents Examination in Languages other than English if they complete a sequence in Art/Music, Business, and Technology (usually composed of five credits).
[edit] Regents Competency Test (RCT)
RCT tests are for identified special education students with Individualized Education Programs or with a 504 plan specifying RCT options for Regents tests. RCTs can be taken before a student fails the corresponding Regents exam, so they know that graduation does not hinge on a Regents exam, if this will help them be less stressed when taking the Regents.
