News 10 | The New York State Board of Regents voted Monday morning to officially remove Regents exams as a high school graduation requirement. Starting with the class of 2028, students won’t have to pass the traditional state tests to earn a diploma.

Some advocates cheered the decision, arguing that the Regents increase high school dropout rates, particularly among students of color and those from low-income families. Maria Odom, Executive Director of Advocates for Children of New York, supports abandoning “the outdated idea that all young people must pass a set of high-stakes standardized tests in order to demonstrate their readiness for post-secondary life.” She said that some students who overcome major challenges to finish their classwork still don’t graduate, “sometimes sitting for a single exam a half-dozen times to try to raise their score by just a few points.”