Diane C. Lore in the Staten Island Advance reports that the New York State Board of Regents Oct. 20 approved new ways for high school students to graduate. The board approved alternate tracks including Career and Technical Education (CTE); Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM); the Arts; Bi-literacy (languages other than English); and the Humanities. They also established a two-year Global History and Geography course requirement and modified the design of the Global History and Geography Regents Exam. Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said the goals of the new options are to improve the state's less-than 75 percent graduation rate and increase the percentage of students who graduate prepared for college and careers, which is currently at 37 percent. The idea that is if a student is interested in engineering or the arts, they can be more involved in school in these specialized tracks. Read the full story in the Staten Island Advance.