January Regents Back in Effect for 2012 in NYC

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announced yesterday that January regents will be restored for high school students for the 2011/2012 school year, thanks to private donations of $1.5 million.

The Regents, a series of five examinations required to graduate, normally are administered three times a year in New York City: August, January and June.

Nearly 2,400 of the 3,454 students who graduated in New York City between January and March of 2011 relied on the January exams to earn their diplomas.

But on May 17 this year, the January Regents exams, due to budget cuts. And in June, the New York State Education Department officially announced they would no long administer the January exams.

News of the elimination worried Bed-Stuy educators, as urban school districts are far more dependent than their suburban counterparts on the January exams to graduate their students. 

Furthermore, the exam's elimination put the job security of several urban high school teachers in peril, since teacher evaluations now are more closely tied to student pass rates and performance. 

“When the State announced it didn’t have the money for the January exams, I knew we had to do something, or we would be letting our kids down," said Bloomberg. "I’ve always believed that you can either complain about your problems or do something to fix them – in New York City, we choose the latter.”

After the NYSED's announcement, the mayor started a fundraising campaign, touting recent statistics that showed that the four-year graduation rate for New York City public schools was at an all-time high of 65.1 percent in 2010, with all ethnic groups -- including black and Hispanic students who comprise 80 percent of of all NYC students -- gaining ground.

Six New Yorkers each made donations of $250,000 behind the campaign-- a total of $1.5 million and enough to restore the January regents citywide.

As far as what will happen for Regents-takers in January 2013, “We will continue to work with the state legislature and the State Education Department to find a long-term solution so that our students, especially the most vulnerable, have the best chance to succeed,” said Walcott.