December 17, 2004 | By SUSAN SAULNY | New York Times

New York City high school students were far behind the rest of the state in passing the five Regents exams required for graduation, according to state data released yesterday analyzing the class that entered ninth grade in 2000.

In addition, about 31 percent of those ninth graders did not end up taking any of the exams because they were not academically ready, compared with 25 percent statewide.

The state education commissioner, Richard P. Mills, presented the information just as the Regents' monthly meeting began in Albany yesterday. He highlighted statistics showing that 81 percent of general education students statewide who took the Regents science test earned scores of at least 55, the minimum passing score in many communities. Only 65 percent of students in the city passed.

"The key finding is that students who take the five required exams, they pass," Mr. Mills said. "But there's still too many young people who enter high school not prepared to do high school work."

He said those who did not take the exams had not been adequately prepared in their middle school years for the transition to ninth grade or had failed too many classes.

In terms of passing the exams, statewide, 76 percent of students who took the Regents math test scored 55 or higher, compared with 59 percent in the city. There were similar disparities in English and history.

Asked about the poor performance of city students compared with their peers statewide, Kelly Devers, a spokeswoman for the City Department of Education, said, "We support high standards for graduation and will work with the Regents and commissioner to address the issues involving graduation requirements."

Officials said the statewide dropout rate is 12 percent. While officially New York City's dropout rate is put at about 20 percent, education officials say that 40 to 50 percent of city schoolchildren never earn their regular high school diplomas.

Mr. Mills rejected any suggestion that the Regents exams had caused more students to drop out. "They dropped out for lots of reasons," he said, "but not because they took the exams and didn't pass them."

According to the state data, the vast majority of students who dropped out had not taken the Regents exams. But of the students who took the tests and later dropped out, he said, a majority passed.

Whether the Regents exams contribute to the dropout rate has been a point of contention between testing advocates and those who oppose Regents-style exams. The testing opponents claim that the exams have undermined teaching standards, caused schools to push out underachieving students and driven up the dropout rate.

The data will help inform the Regents' policy decisions, including those involving the requirements for a diploma. The board is likely to consider whether to average exam scores and to initiate an appeals process, among other things.

Another significant issue being discussed is whether to raise the statewide passing score on the Regents exams to 65. Many localities chose an option the Regents have offered to pass students with scores as low as 55.

Some fear that raising the passing score could take a particularly harsh toll on city students. "It's just cruel," said Noreen Connell, the executive director of the Educational Priorities Panel, a coalition of 25 civic groups. "What the state did is it put in place high standards before it put in place a reasonably honest school funding system," she said. "So it just seems astounding that they are thinking of moving to a higher standard of passing when the funding hasn't been implemented yet."

Mr. Mills said he agreed that "a lot of things the schools need to do are going to take money." With that in mind, he said, the Regents have developed a proposal for a $6.6 billion increase in state aid to schools to be phased in over five years.

A court-appointed panel recently recommended that New York City alone should receive an additional $5.6 billion. Mr. Mills said the Regents' proposal is consistent with that recommendation.

But unlike the panel, which did not address how much of the money should come from the state, the Regents want the state to provide $4.7 billion, and New York City taxpayers to pay the remaining $940 million.