“Should Middle Schoolers be Taking Regents Courses?”

Most students in high school are very familiar with Regents exams. They are statewide tests in the four core subjects of high school. These subjects include English Language Arts, math, science, and social studies. Passing at least five of these exams for these given subjects is required to earn a Regents Diploma at the end of high school, along with an Advanced Regents diploma which requires extra high school credits.

Regents diplomas and Advanced Regents diplomas are what most colleges look for in NY high school students, with the exception of a handful of students that meet the criteria for a local diploma. Regents courses, which are the classes that prepare students for their required Regents exam, are high school courses that many students begin taking in the eighth grade, most commonly with Algebra I and Living Environment.

Here at East Rockaway, all students in 8th grade are currently enrolled in Algebra I, a first for the school after a decision from the East Rockaway Board of Education. In previous years, enrollment was split: half of the 8th grade took Math 8, while the other half took Algebra I. However, since the district saw strong results in passing scores for 8th graders taking the Regents in past years, they moved forward with having all 8th graders taking Accelerated Algebra.

According to math department chair Mr. Zervas, “One major goal of accelerating all students is that it creates a path for all students to get to a college level mathematics course by senior year.  We have seen an increase in students taking college level math classes in the past couple of years, but looking forward 4 years from now, we should have an even greater increase.”

While the intention certainly makes sense, and it’s absolutely important to challenge students to learn more, the outcome might not always be positive. Asking middle schoolers to take high school-level courses can be a bit risky for a couple of reasons.

Many schools in Nassau County, like East Rockaway, have their eighth-graders skip Math 8 and go right to Algebra I, with the exception of students with special needs or education. As someone who went from Math 7 right to Algebra, I felt as though the speed and number of topics were overwhelming. This can make Algebra very challenging for some kids, which was the case for me and some of my peers.

The issue is not so much that the courses are too hard for a junior high student, but rather too much information too soon. If students fail Algebra or the Algebra Regents exam during eighth grade because it was too much too soon for them, it could severely alter their high school roadmap.

Personally, I can’t say for sure if Regents courses in middle school are too much for a completely unrelated reason. The COVID pandemic exempted all students from their finals and Regents classes during the 2019-2020 school year, and I was unable to take my first two Regents exams and still have yet to take one.

I do know,  however, that some kids in my school struggled or even failed Algebra last year, and this does raise a couple of eyebrows on junior high students taking Regents courses. The dilemma is how we balance challenging ourselves without pushing students too far in the midst of a pandemic.