Kathleen Moore reports in the Times Union that a Blue Ribbon Commission told the Board of Regents its recommendation on how to change high school graduation requirements on Nov. 13. The commission wants students to have more ways to graduate from high school, besides passing Regents exams. The state has been giving regents exams for 145 years, but they were not required until the mid-'90s and now all students have to pass five Regents exams to graduate. In recent years students have been allowed to substitute the fifth Regents exam with a career-and-technical education program or a project in arts or civics. But New York is one of only seven states in the country requiring passage of similar exams to graduate. The commission recommended no longer requiring specific courses, including algebra, and instead said students should be able to show competency in some STEM topic – which includes science, technology, engineering and math, and that students should be able to graduate early if they show competency. Commission member Sagrario Rudecindo-O’Neill said, “The commission placed a great deal of interest in increasing student flexibility. This would provide students with more opportunities to meet graduation requirements.... Increase the number of elective courses that may be used to fulfill credit requirements.” Read more about this story in the Times Union.