Even when failing a test—with a score of 55%—still meant passing, 44% of New York City high school students still managed to flunk the Global History Regents exam last year. The statewide exams, first issued in 1865, are administered to gauge student achievement and college preparedness. This year the passing bar has been raised higher, from 55% to 65% and educators fear that the higher test-score expectations could result in lower graduation rates.
In 2010 the highest graduation rate was 65.1%—and then students only needed to pass three out of five Regents exams to get a diploma (if not a Regents diploma). At times, the testing system can seem almost punitive—like in 2010 when New York refused to let a girl being evicted from her house the day of the exam take a makeup.
That old cliche, that if you don't know your history you're doomed to repeat it? Well, New York City's school system seems to be stuck in that cycle. Last year only 56% of NYC students passed the Global History and Geography test. Critics of the subject test say that it's harder than the other tests, like math (62% passage rate last year) and English (76%), because it demands specific answers, and students need to remember two years worth of content learned in the ninth and tenth grades. And what are those questions about the fictional Titanic movie doing on an actual history test, anyway?
