The New York State Department of Education issued new high school graduation guidelines on Tuesday after cancelling the June regents exam on Monday morning.
During the April Board of Regents meeting on Monday, Chancellor Betty Rosa announced that the June exams would be canceled as a result of the statewide closure of schools due to the novel coronavirus. The new guidelines outline which students are exempted from the exam and do not say that students have to make it up.
High schoolers scheduled to take any regents exams during the month are now exempt from sitting for the exam as long as they are set to receive credit for the course. Students in classes requiring a regent exam in June who fail to receive course credit by the end of 2019-2020 school year are exempt from the exam as well as long as they attend summer school and receive credit by August.
The department has yet to decide if the August exams will be canceled.
Students preparing to take an NYSED-approved +1 Pathway Assessment in June are also exempt from sitting for an exam to meet high school graduation requirements, according to a letter from Interim Commissioner of Education Shannon Tahoe.
The department decided that for students taking any June regents exams to improve their score and get honors or mastery distinctions on a diploma they can still receive the endorsement if they received a calculated average of 90 or above 4, without rounding, on all exams applicable to their diploma type.
For students exempted from taking the June exam who want to receive mastery in mathematics endorsement on their high school diploma, they have to score an 85 or above on two Regents exams in math or science.
