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. 

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. “Teachers’ focus should be on creating the most engaging learning environments possible under the circumstances and on supporting their students’ social-emotional wellbeing — not on preparing them to pass a high-stakes standardized test needed for graduation,” the letter reads. 

The letter includes a few dozen signatories who are part of the Coalition for Multiple Pathways to a Diploma, including Advocates for Children of New York, Alliance for Quality Education, Bronx Defenders, Flanbwayan Haitian Literacy Project and the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York. It is the latest push against the statewide exam, a metric for academic success that has fielded criticism amid the pandemic from those who say it puts certain groups at a disadvantage. Li atik (Subscription required)