The state Board of Regents is lobbying the feds to let schools in New York earn credit toward meeting academic targets by counting students who take an extra year to graduate.
Currently, schools are held accountable under the No Child Left Behind Act — and face increasingly harsh penalties if they fail to meet state benchmarks — solely for their four-year graduation rates.
But the state’s bid is an acknowledgement of the reality that a good portion of students — including some new immigrants and special-ed students — require that extra year to earn a diploma.