From the President of the New York State Council for the Social Studies to the Vice Chancellor of the Board of Regents:

It has come to our attention that the elimination of the mandatory Regents examination in Global History and Geography is on the agenda of the April 23-24 meeting of the Board of Regents… The argument that it is the Global History and Geography Regents Examination that is pulling the graduation rates in New York State down and preventing a large percentage of students from not graduating is not valid…

Trying to raise graduation rates by lowering the requirements is counterproductive.  New York State has an educational standard that other states continually try to emulate.  To maintain this status in this critical time of globalization we need to emphasize global awareness and living in a global economy.  We achieve this goal by continuing to educate our students about global cultures and global governments.  To ensure that this expectation is achieved NYSED must continue to test Global History and Geography and continue to improve the testing process.