Dear APHS Students, Parents and Guardians,
As you may be aware, last week the United States Department of Education (USDOE) denied New York State’s testing waiver request. I want to share some updates about how this decision will impact Regents examinations and local final examinations at APHS this year.
Regents Examinations
To meet the federal government’s requirements, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) has canceled all but four of the Regents examinations previously scheduled to be administered in June 2021. Similar to June 2020, all students enrolled in and passing courses culminating with the following Regents examinations will automatically receive a “EX” designation on their transcript. These students will be exempt from these exams.
The Regents exams which are canceled for June 2021 are:
- Global History & Geography
- U.S. History & Government
- Geometry
- Algebra II
- Chemistry
- Physics
Four core Regents examinations will be held according to the following schedule:
- English Language Arts – June 17th 8:00 am
- Living Environment – June 22 8:00 am
- Algebra I – June 23 8:00 am
- Earth Science – June 24 8:00 am
Students are NOT required to take the four above Regents examinations. All students enrolled in and passing courses culminating with one of these four Regents will automatically receive the “EX” designation on their transcripts. By default, they will be exempt from these exams. Students can, however, choose to take the exams if they are enrolled in these courses, if they would like.
If your student would like to participate in one of the four core Regents exams listed above, his/her parent/guardian should complete the a Google Form by May 14, 2021, so that we can plan accordingly. For a Google Form, check your school email for a link to sign-up for exams.
If a form is not submitted, we will assume that a student will not be participating.
If a student who takes an exam ultimately wishes to have the numeric grade for the exam placed on his/her transcript, instead of the automatic “EX”, parents will have the option to complete and submit a form to do so in late June/early July. You do not need to decide this now. We will send out a reminder about this option again, as we get closer to the administration of these four exams.
Final Examinations
To ensure both equity and empathy for all APHS students, we will cancel all large-scale, grade-level local final examinations for the 2020-21 school year. We believe this decision is in the best interest of our students given the current climate. It reflects the spirit of the Regents exam decisions made by the New York State Education Department to ensure as much fairness to students as possible.
Teachers will give any course-specific final assessments within the instructional time allotted to their courses. In courses linked with colleges and universities, year-end assessments will be administered in class, if required as part of those partnership agreements.
End-of-Year Schedule
The District continues to work on the calendar/schedule of instruction for the final weeks of June 2021. As soon we get more information regarding what this timeframe will look like, I will follow-up with building-level details.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your student’s teacher, counselor, or the HS Office at 647-7002.
Thank you and be well!
Warrior Strong,
Heath C. Quiles
Principal, Averill Park High School