The Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands (REL-NEI) partnered with the New York State Education Department (NYSED) to examine the pathways used by students to attain a Regents diploma at the outset of a new policy expanding those pathways in June 2015. Under the new 4+1 pathways policy, students could replace one of the two…

Between 1994 and 2014, New York City engaged in a historic overhaul of its publicly funded high schools. This included the opening of charter high schools (made possible by a 1999 state law) and the creation of new, smaller district high schools that would, in time, replace many of the city's large, traditional, comprehensive, and vocational high…

On February 18, 2015, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) conducted a Performance Level Description Development meeting in Albany, New York. The meeting was convened to articulate the knowledge and skills expected of students at each level of performance, consistent with the policy vision set forth by the NYSED. The Performance Level…

In a standards-based system, it is important for all components of the system to align in order to achieve the intended goals. No Child Left Behind law mandates that assessments be fully aligned with state standards, be valid, reliable and fair, be reported to all stakeholders, and provide evidence that all students in the state are meeting the…

The "Living Environment Regents Examination" is meant to provide a measure of the quality of New York State students' knowledge and understanding of biological content and science inquiry ability, as it is defined in the "MST Standards" and the "Living Environment Core Curriculum". This article examines the degree to…

This article reports on an analysis of alignment between NY state core curricula and NY Regents tests in physics and chemistry. Both the curriculum and test were represented by a two dimensional table consisting of topics and cognitive demands. The cell values of the table were numbers of major understandings in the curriculum and points of test…

This paper provides information about the New York's Regents Examination. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Provide schools with student academic diagnostic information; (2) Determine prospective high school graduates' knowledge and skill levels relative to those needed for entry-level employment; (3) Determine prospective high school graduates'…

Describes a principal's elimination of low-track classes in a suburban New York high school. Non-Regents sections in all subjects other than math were abolished, and students were integrated into regular classes that take fairly rigorous, year-end Regents exams. As graduation neared, most "de-tracked" seniors had passed these exams; some…

New York state high school principals and superintendents were surveyed regarding their evaluations of the statewide minimum competency testing program for high school graduation. Program data were also supplied by the principals. It was concluded that: (1) 85 percent of eleventh grade students had completed the basic competency test graduation…