David Monk, John W. Sipple and Kieran Killeen, New York State Educational Finance Research Consortium
September 10, 2001
This 45-pager from the New York State Educational Finance Research Consortium was written by Penn State's David Monk and two colleagues. The basic questions it examines are how well school districts in the Empire State are complying with stiffer Regents requirements for high school graduation and what effects this is having. It includes both statistical analyses and interview data from five districts. Though fairly technical, it offers several interesting findings. First, as one might expect, the State Board of Regents' decision to require nearly all high-school students to take and pass more Regents exams before graduating has led more high-school students to take those exams, though there's much district-level variation in whether instructional and organizational changes are made to help them pass those exams. Second, as more students take these exams, the average score declines, with marked gaps between urban and non-urban districts. Third, more pressure from Regents exams does not seem to be producing more dropouts. Fourth, there's no clear correlation between district per-pupil spending levels and Regents exam participation rates. And fifth, there is a notable lack of consensus as to whether, in fact, "all children can learn" and whether the state should be requiring them to pass these exams in order to graduate. Teachers and community leaders are the most doubtful, superintendents and principals more apt at least to voice support for such policies. A dry but valuable study. You can obtain it at http://www.albany.edu/edfin/EFRC_pubspage.html.
