ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The end of the school year is near, but for school officials across the state, the final bell doesn’t mean a break. Currently, the state is working on NY Inspires, a multi-year plan to sunset Regents exams as a mandatory graduation requirement.
Instead, students will focus on what’s being referred to as a “real-world framework” called Portrait of a Graduate.
The framework has six components. Students must demonstrate their proficiency in order to graduate through hands-on learning, internships, capstone projects and performance-based portfolios, for example.
Academically Prepared: Students must build a foundation knowledge base.
Creative Innovator: Students must use their imagination and be flexible when solving problems.
Critical Thinker: Students must analyze evidence and make multidisciplinary connections.
Effective Communicator: Students must express their ideas clearly across various media.
Global Citizen: Students must act ethically within local, digital and global communities.
Reflective and Future-Focused: Students must set goals and practice responsible decision-making.
This change has those who run Montessori and independent schools alike celebrating. They believe it will lead to positive changes in the way students learn, but also create a more equitable pathway to higher education.
At the Harley School, the head of the school, Dr. Ryan Kimmet, says they set their own course.
“What we think we’re doing there is actually offering a more rigorous, challenging and comprehensive pathway for our students to really meet the needs of where they are as learners,” said Kimmet. “Not some outside metric or standard.”
Harley is an independent school that focuses on letting students explore and develop their interests.
“We’re having our 100th graduation this year,” Kimmet said. “So we’ve been seeing this for a long time.”
Kimmet says they’re seeing success because kids aren’t worrying about a number.
“We have students who are going off to top schools and Ivy League schools,” Kimmet said. “But also, you know, we have three students next year who are going to musical conservatory programs. I don’t think the Regents is something that really prepares students for that in the same way.”
“We really want students to acquire foundational strengths to become creative innovators, reflective learners, and future-focused leaders,” said Diane Nickerson of the New York State Montessori Alliance. “Asking them to uphold academic rigor, by considering their response to a teacher’s question, ‘Is this your best work?’”
Nickerson is representing the New York State Montessori Alliance membership at the New York State Education Department’s Commissioner’s Advisory Council for Religious and Independent Schools. Through that, there’s the PLAN program, also known as PLAN Pilot. It’s the office at the state education department that is creating the foundation to ensure that in 2029, all schools are ready to implement the Portrait of a Graduate. Those are some of the questions students will be asked.
“There are so many needs in a community, and everybody can rise to that occasion focusing on their strengths in a Montessori environment, which allows just that,” Nickerson said. “What are each child’s individual strengths, and how can they follow their interest through that, through curiosity, to hone those skills, to gain mastery?”
For New York high schoolers who attend schools that don’t administer the Regents exams, it’s a more equitable pathway to higher education. There will be one diploma for all. Nickerson says that in some cases, a local diploma isn’t enough to receive an acceptance letter.
“They can’t be accepted unless they take a GED,” Nickersons said. “It’s really silly. Or they take the Regents exams at their local district.”
Now the question remains of how the classroom will change since districts across the state aren’t beholden to Regents.
“Will we see, you know, schools in our neighboring districts start to move towards a model where students have more voice and choice in what they’re doing,” Kimmet said.
Kimmet is calling it an exciting time for parents and students alike.
As far as concerns about how to see if students are falling behind academically, Kimmet says federal law still requires states to assess students in math, reading and science at least once in high school.