Riverhead school board lowers Regents exam weight in final grades to 10%

Riverhead students’ Regents exams will now count for 10% of their course grade average — down from 20% in previous years — under a new policy amendment adopted by the school board on Tuesday. 

As a result, each student’s quarterly classroom grade for a Regents course will account for 22.5% of their final course average. The revised policy takes effect this school year.

Additionally, for students who choose to retake a Regents exam in a given subject, only the highest grade achieved will count towards their course average and be recorded on their transcript, according to the new policy. 

Stakeholders with differing perspectives have debated over the past few years how much weight the state exams should carry in students’ course averages. The new policy was a “compromise” that the board’s policy came up with after conversations with stakeholders, board president James Scudder said. It reduces the impact of the state tests on students’ grades but does not eliminate it entirely. 

During the 2020-2021 school year, the Riverhead Board of Education — following the lead of several other districts on Long Island — temporarily suspended its policy for weighing the Regents exam in course averages. It continued to temporarily suspend the exam weighting policy in the 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-24 school years while community member discussed amendments to the board’s policy. During those years, the board allowed Regents scores to be included only if they raised a student’s final grade.

Some parents and school board members had advocated for eliminating Regents exam scores from course averages altogether, or count the scores only if they help a student’s grade. They argued that a single poor exam performance should not lower a student’s overall average. The district’s administrators union, led by Director of Guidance Charles Gassar, endorsed that position.

However, some Riverhead teachers disagreed. They argued that Regents exam scores often boost student averages, and expressed concern that limiting or removing the exams’ influence would be unfair and reduce the value of the tests as educational tools.

A committee of students, parents, teachers and administrators was formed in 2023 to assess the Regents weighting policy and make a recommendation to the board. That committee recommended keeping the 20% weighting. 

But some committee members, who supported removing the Regents exams from a student’s average, complained that the deck was stacked against them. Interim Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said late last year that she would form a new committee to review updated data and make a new recommendation to the school board.

That new committee’s compromise recommendation paved the way for the board’s decision last week, Scudder said.

“There were a lot of teachers — there were even some students — who wanted to keep it [weighed]. They didn’t want it to have it cut out completely, because they felt like they had worked all year long to take the Regents,” Scudder said. “I mean, that’s kind of the goal at the end of those Regents classes, is to take and pass those [exams]. But they wanted it to count for something.” 

As the parent of a special education student, Scudder said he also understood the other side. Kids who perform poorly on tests “are going to kind of suffer if it’s weighted too high,” he said.

The board policy contains an exemption for students with disabilities and English language learners who perform poorly on those tests. Those students can receive credit towards a local diploma with a Regents exam score below 65, and Regents exam scores that would cause a student in either of those groups to fail their course would not be counted.

Regents exams are required for core high school courses in New York State. To graduate, a student must pass five Regents exams: one in English, one in math, one in science, one in social studies, and one additional exam of their choice. 

The New York State Board of Regents has proposed allowing students to complete alternative assignments instead of Regents exams to meet graduation requirements. Riverhead’s interim superintendent has said those policies could help more students in the district graduate.