History of Regents Examination

The Board of Regents devised an entrance examination (Preliminary Regents Exams) for students wishing to attend high school that was first administered in 1865. The original purpose of these tests was to distribute funds to encourage “academic” education. These tests are very similar to tests given, to this day, in England and Ireland to determine if children will continue with an academic program or enter a vocational certificate program. The first administration of the High School Regents Exam was in June 1878. From the original five exams (algebra, Latin, American History, natural philosophy, natural geography), the State Education Department expanded the Regents Exams offerings to forty-two tests in 1879; tests were administered in November, February, and June. Throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s vocational education Regents Exams were approved and administered, these included, but were not limited to, agricultural science, costume draping, and salesmanship). By 1970 the number and types of Regents Exams changed to reflect the changes in high school curriculum: vocational exams were discontinued, and the sheer number of exams were either dropped or consolidated as the curricular emphasis trended toward comprehensive examinations rather than the singularly focused tests of the past. Today there is a distinct mixture of comprehensive style exams (English Language Arts, and Foreign Languages) and the “older” singular style exams (Social Studies, Sciences, and Math).