Graduation Measures
All students deserve to graduate from high school with a meaningful diploma that reflects their readiness for the future. But too many young people — disproportionately Black, Latinx, and Native American students, and students from low-income backgrounds — are graduating without the foundational skills necessary for future success. Thus, students may be required to take remedial coursework upon entering college — classes that often lead to increased debt and lower completion rates.
Graduation measures — the requirements students must meet to graduate from a New York State public high school — must prepare students for success in college and the workforce.
Our Equity-Centered Approach
As the New York State Education Department (NYSED) continues to review and rethink graduation measures through the Blue Ribbon Commission, we champion recommendations and policies that strengthen accountability measures alongside our partners from the New York Equity Coalition.
We support additional flexibility for students to demonstrate proficiency, particularly for students with disabilities and multilingual students. At the same time, we raise the alarm to ensure that school districts that under-educate students of color, particularly Black, Latinx, and Native American students, and those from low-income backgrounds, do not use graduate measures that advance students to higher education and the workforce without preparing them for success.
Latest Resource
The Readiness Question: What Falling Graduation Rates Mean for New York’s Future
This analysis finds that New York’s high school graduation rate declined from 87% in 2022 to 85% in 2025—the largest year-over-year drop in two decades. While graduation rates remain higher than pre-pandemic levels, the decline raises important questions about whether students are receiving the support and opportunities they need to succeed after high school. The findings also validate concerns raised by EdTrust-New York and the New York Equity Coalition in 2022, when graduation rates surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, advocates cautioned that Regents exam exemptions and other temporary policy changes were driving much of the increase, rather than substantial improvements in student learning and college and career readiness.
Featured Reports and Resources Over the Years
Statement: Graduation Data for the Class of 2023
Brief: What’s Behind the State’s Improved Graduation Rates?
Statement: Changing High School Graduation Requirements
Opinion: How New York’s Bid to Reduce Graduation Requirements Could Backfire
Data Snapshot
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The share of students earning a Regents diploma dropped from 51% in 2022 to 49% in 2025, while more students earned local diplomas.
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New York’s graduation rate fell from 87% in 2022 to 85%.
More Resources
EdTrust-New York Calls on NYSED to Pause NY Inspires
EdTrust-New York remains concerned about the roll out of NY Inspires and calls on the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and Board of Regents to pause the elimination of Regents exams as a graduation requirement until the state addresses key equity concerns and builds a credible statewide alternative for measuring college and career readiness.
New York should not tear down the measuring stick before it builds a better one.
EdTrust-New York Calls for Independent Audit of State ELA Assessments Following Significant Year-Over-Year Fluctuations
EdTrust-New York welcomes the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) release of preliminary 2025-26 Grades 3-8 English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Grades 5 and 8 Science assessment results ahead of the new school year. At the same time, we are deeply concerned by the significant decline in ELA outcomes and the dramatic shifts in student performance over the past two years.
The Readiness Question: What Falling Graduation Rates Mean for New York’s Future
This report shows that New York’s high school graduation rate fell from 87% in 2022 to 85% in 2025. That two-point drop marks the largest year-over-year decline in two decades and reveals persistent inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes.
EdTrust-New York Analysis Finds New York Graduation Rates Falling as Readiness Concerns Grow
EdTrust-New York today released a new report, The Readiness Question: What Falling Graduation Rates Mean for New York’s Future, showing that New York’s high school graduation rate fell from 87% in 2022 to 85% in 2025. That two-point drop marks the largest year-over-year decline in two decades and reveals persistent inequities in educational opportunities and outcomes.
New Data From EdTrust-New York Show Many Students Aren’t Completing College
EdTrust-New York released a new analysis today showing that far too many students leave college without earning a degree, particularly those who graduated from high schools serving the largest shares of students from low-income backgrounds. The analysis uses data from EdTrust-New York’s To & Through interactive tool, which allows users to explore how well New York State’s public high schools are preparing students for success in college.
EdTrust-New York Supports Graduate Portrait Goals, Warns of Equity Risks in New Graduation Measures
EdTrust-New York supports the state’s new Portrait of a Graduate, particularly its focus on culturally responsive education and real-world readiness. However, we remain deeply concerned that eliminating the Regents exams and implementing new graduation measures could weaken educational equity.