3.7 Regents’ Reading and Writing Skills Requirement
The formulation and administration of the Regents’ Test and the Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement shall be as determined by the Chancellor and prescribed in the Academic Affairs Handbook (BoR Minutes, August, 2004).
Each USG institution shall ensure that students obtaining a degree from a USG institution possess certain minimum skills of reading and writing, hereinafter called Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills. The Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement has been developed to help attain this goal. The Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement will ensure students have competence, at a minimum system-wide level, in reading and writing.
Students enrolled in undergraduate degree programs leading to the baccalaureate degree will be required to complete the Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement as a requirement for graduation. The Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement is not a requirement for an associate of applied science degree or an associate of science degree in an allied health field, although institutions may choose to require it for these degrees (BoR Minutes, 1986-87, p. 371, 1987-88, pp. 129-30).
A student holding a baccalaureate or higher degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education will not be required to complete the Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement in order to receive a degree from a USG institution (BoR Minutes, 1987-88, pp. 129-30).
The Board of Regents may allow waivers of the Regents’ Skills Requirement in very rare circumstances (estimated at no more than 1-2 a year, system-wide) when, after enrollment, students develop documentable medical conditions that make all testing methods inapplicable. Guidelines for implementing this waiver will be issued by the Chancellor (BoR Minutes, March, 2007). There shall be two system-mandated courses in writing and in reading that represent a vehicle for meeting the Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement.
There will be system-wide tests administered in reading and in writing. These tests will be referred to collectively as the Regents’ Test. The Regents’ Test is designed to provide an additional method for satisfying the Regents’ Writing and Reading Skills requirement.