NY’s Regent exams have been administered since 1865, but this year, in light of penny pinching measures throughout the Department of Education, some of the tests may be eliminated or drastically scaled back. Next week the board of Regents may decide to trash many subject tests that measure achievement among the state’s high schoolers, including ones for foreign languages, math, science, global history, government and geography. According to the Times Union, the board may also choose to stop translating the tests, keeping Spanish, but getting rid of Chinese, Korean, Russian and Haitian Creole versions. Sources estimate the cutbacks could save $13.7 million in preparation costs. more ›

This story's as sad as it is stupid: The state is refusing to validate a makeup English Regents exam taken by a Brooklyn High School senior, because she missed taking the test on the day her family was evicted. Last week Rosa Bracero, a student at Brooklyn's High School for Civil Rights, was stuck at a shelter when the test was administered. Though she insisted she needed to leave to take the 1:15 p.m. exam in order to earn her diploma, staffers at the city's family intake shelter told her they'd be denied shelter if the teen left. Given the choice between sleeping on the streets in January and taking a test, Bracero opted for survival. more ›

With more focus being put on public schools improving standardized test scores, should we be surprised that a high school administrator is accused of falsifying answers? Department of Education investigators say that High School for Contemporary Arts Assistant Principal Ruth Ralston "brazenly erased 1,000 wrong answers on her students' algebra Regents exams and swapped them for the correct responses," according to the Post." The NY Times reports someone noticed that "1,013 multiple-choice answers had been erased and changed — in 94 percent of the cases, from incorrect to correct." Suspicion fell on Ralston, who held the uncorrected exams after students took them and before they were graded. She had also been told her $109K/year job might be eliminated due to budget cuts--"while a high passing rate on the exam might not save her job, 'it could help her search for a new position.'" (The Post says she's still working there three days a week.) more ›