A New York State standardized test in U.S. history has been canceled over potentially triggering content related to the Buffalo mass shooting nearly two weeks ago, in which ten people were killed and three others wounded.
Scheduled to be administered on June 1, the New York State U.S. History Regents Exam was called off after the state Department of Education reviewed the test and determined that it “has the potential to compound student trauma caused by the recent violence in Buffalo,” according to a statement released by state DOE Commissioner Betty Rosa.
“While developed by NYS-certified social studies teachers more than two years ago and field-tested to confirm that the exam’s content is educationally sound, the tragedy in Buffalo has created an unexpected and unintended context for the planned assessment,” she wrote.
Rosa added that the district doesn’t have enough time to edit and finalize a new test in time before the end of the school year, so it has decided to discontinue the exam altogether. January 2022 Regents exams were also canceled due to the Omicron Covid-19 spike.
“It is not possible to produce a test with different content or to make modifications to the developed assessment in the short time period before the administration date. To appropriately support our students and their well-being, the Department is canceling the administration of the Regents Examination in United States History and Government (Framework) for June 2022,” she said.
It remains unclear exactly what the allegedly triggering content consisted of.
Any student who was supposed to take the exam will receive an exemption for graduation, meaning the missing test score won’t prevent anyone from graduating high school on time with a Regents diploma, CNYCentral reported. Mostly juniors and seniors were set to take the exam, a spokesperson for the department told the outlet.
In early May, a gunman stormed a supermarket in a Buffalo neighborhood known to have a high concentration of African-Americans and started open firing in the parking lot as well as inside the store. Police later arrested an 18-year-old male suspect, who wore camouflage and body armor and allegedly carried out the attack with an AR-15-style firearm. Prior to the rampage, the alleged shooter published an 180-page manifesto online detailing his plot and its justification, which included a racist theory that black people were “replacing” white people.







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