Greece Central reviews New York Inspires plan to reshape graduation, credits and assessments
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Summary
District staff outlined New York Inspires' four transformations — a state portrait of a graduate, redefined credits, decoupling Regents from graduation while keeping exams available, and a single state diploma with district seals — and answered board questions about rigor, equity, climate education and timelines.
Dr. Zaffetz, the district's lead on graduation measures, told the Board of Education the New York Inspires initiative will change how students earn credits and demonstrate proficiency and that the state's intent is to broaden pathways while keeping Regents exams available as an option.
The presentation said the initiative has four core transformations: adopt a portrait of a graduate, redefine credits beyond seat time, decouple Regents exams from automatic graduation requirements while maintaining them as assessments, and move to one New York State diploma that districts can augment with local seals or endorsements. Dr. Zaffetz said the district's existing profile of a graduate aligns closely with the state's portrait and emphasized that the state has already approved a "major life event" exemption for students who could not take Regents exams due to significant hardships.
Board members asked detailed questions about how the proposals would affect lab-hour requirements in science courses, attendance-related state aid, and how the district will verify rigor for nontraditional pathways such as internships, capstone projects and work-based learning. "The Regents exams are not going away," Dr. Zaffetz said. "In fact, they cannot go away. It's a requirement for us under ESSA that we offer Regents exams. We value Regents exams and they will be an option for our students moving forward." He added that districts will be responsible for designing alternate assessments and rubrics to ensure comparable rigor.
Superintendent Smalling and committee representatives described next steps and timelines: brainstorming sessions with teachers beginning next spring to design alternate-assessment concepts for the ninth-grade cohort entering in 2027 (whose assessment year would be 2028), prioritized learning standards expected in the summer of 2027, and full implementation targeted for 2029. The district highlighted plans to expand financial literacy instruction beginning this fall and noted uncertainty about a climate education definition; guidance on climate requirements is expected later from the state.
Board members raised concerns about equity and consistency across districts if mastery is locally determined. "Our top students will thrive, but the kids struggling — the low readers, the kids not doing math at level — how can they use critical thinking skills without knowledge bases?" asked a trustee. Dr. Zaffetz and committee members repeatedly emphasized that the learning standards will remain in place and that alternate pathways must be vetted to meet the same standards of rigor.
The board received the presentation for information and scheduled follow-up work by a district graduation measures committee to develop implementation plans and to bring more specific proposals back to the board as state guidance emerges.