Jamestown Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker presents on NYS’s proposed overhaul of graduation requirements (August 12, 2025)
The Jamestown School Board has learned more about New York State’s plan to overhaul graduation requirements under a program called, “Portrait Of A Graduate.”
JPS Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the state had a “blue ribbon commission” of people from all over the public education spectrum who worked for a year and on coming up with what graduates should know and be able to do, “I can tell you this – what it is not is getting rid of regents exams. Regents exams will continue into the future. It is not a lowering of standards. It is a distinction between, ‘Can you pass a written test on how to play soccer or can you play soccer?’”
Whitaker said the state is using a phased approach that includes the adoption of the new graduation program between now and 2027, and then between 2027 and 2029 the state will also redefine credits and learning experiences, sunset diploma assessment requirements, and then move to one New York State High School Diploma.
He said these requirements will not affect students who will be juniors and seniors in the 2025-26 school year. For sophomore, freshmen, and eighth graders, they will have to take regents exams but will not be required to pass them to graduate. For students entering high school in 2027 and 2028, there will be new credit requirements but what those will be is still unknown. Dr. Whitaker said students entering high school in 2029 and beyond will be following all of the new guidelines to graduate.
Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and School Improvement Tina Sandstrom said the state wants students to master six attributes, which she says the work on those really starts when a child enters school at pre-school or pre-kindergarten age. Those six attributes include the student being academically prepared, a creative innovator, a critical thinker, an effective communicator, a global citizen, and a student who is reflective and future focused. Sandstrom said these attributes are all part of a Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education
The State Department of Education plans to propose a rule change to officially adopt the final Portrait of a Graduate to the Board of Regents in November. Full implementation of the new system is scheduled for fall 2029.
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