11.02.2020 | Politico New York | Dozens of education advocates are urging the State Education Department and the Board of Regents to remove the Regents exam as a graduation requirement until August 2021 because of the pandemic's impact on schools.\u00a0<\/p>
In a letter to the agency and the Regents sent on Friday, advocates said that while the state needs federal approval to cancel standardized exams, they want the state to extend the Covid-19 exemption from last spring that separated the Regents exams from diploma requirements. \u201cTeachers\u2019 focus should be on creating the most engaging learning environments possible under the circumstances and on supporting their students\u2019 social-emotional wellbeing \u2014 not on preparing them to pass a high-stakes standardized test needed for graduation,\u201d the letter reads.\u00a0<\/p>