ALBANY — A panel of experts and state education officials are recommending sweeping changes to New York’s high school graduation requirements to make a high school education more accessible and applicable to the modern world.

In a report released ahead of a hearing before the state Board of Regents on Monday, a “Blue Ribbon Commission” of state education officials and experts said that the Regents exams that students are required to take to get a standard diploma in New York are “valid, reliable and efficient,” they are also inflexible and insufficient for modern educational standards.

“While we still value the Regents exams, we must build flexibility within our assessment system,” part of the report reads.

Under current standards, high school students must take and pass five Regents exams in four years, as well as take 22 credits of classes across various disciplines, including English and languages, math, science, physical education and the arts.

They also have the choice to pursue a career development and occupational studies path that includes some, but not all, Regents requirements, a path common for students who attend BOCES programs for electrical engineering, cosmetology or other career-prep programs.

Students can also pursue a local diploma, which requires passage of only two Regents exams or a local equivalent. This is a common path for students who entered the NYS system later than ninth grade. Other graduation standards exist for students with learning disabilities or who do not speak English as their primary language.

The five-test requirement has existed for years as an option for students, but became the preferred path for students under Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills in 1995, phased in over time to become fully effectual for students starting ninth grade in 2001. By 2009, the Regents diploma was billed as the only graduation option for students in New York, although local diplomas remain a common graduation option for students with disabilities or those who entered the NYS system after ninth grade.

Since pre-Regents times, graduation rates have dropped as a percentage of enrolled students, and the path to a high school diploma narrowed for many. In a hearing at the state Education Department building in Albany on Monday, commission members said they suggested state educators take a wider view of what a high school diploma should mean, and give students more pathways to achieve the credential.

According to the U.S. Social Security Administration, high school graduates are likely to earn nearly $400,000 more over their lifetimes than non-graduates. High school diplomas are a requirement for many job training programs, college degrees or continuing-education programs, but they’re almost impossible to pursue if not achieved by age 21, when a traditional public school experience is no longer available.

New York is one of only seven states left in the U.S. to require passing standardized exams to earn a diploma — most others only require students pass their classes, with exams calculated as a part of their class score, even if those states have standardized testing.

The commission suggested that Regents exams should not be eliminated, but should not be the arbiters of students’ success in high school, deprioritized in preference for assessments that demonstrate the student’s ability in other ways. The commission’s report said it placed a higher value on skills like problem solving, empathy, time management, public speaking, civic engagement, technological ability, financial literacy and media literacy.

The commission recommended that the state no longer require students pass specific Regents exams, and instead show success in a wider catalog of tests that fit certain core themes. They recommended that students no longer be required to specifically pass an algebra Regents exam, but instead show success in another field that uses the principles of algebra and mathematics, like science, technology or engineering.

They also suggested that student assessments be given in a more diverse format than the rigid, standardized written test format currently employed. The commission report says parents and students expressed strong support for performance-based assessments or portfolio and project-based assessments as alternative testing options.

They also stressed that local input and local control over curriculum and student expectations should be respected and centered in any plan to change how New Yorkers are educated.

The report said that students and parents expressed a desire for more flexibility in credit requirements. They said the state mandate that students get a specific number of credits in core areas like math, science, the arts and electives made it difficult for students to find the space for classes they were passionate or professionally interested in. The vast differences in elective offerings between schools, and between school years in cases where classes are cut, made the mandate even more unfair, and some students struggled to find enough classes to meet their requirements at smaller schools.

With the suggestion for a less rigid credit requirement, the commission also suggested that students should be given more leeway in setting their graduation date. Some could graduate early, others could take longer, and the traditional class structures of freshman, sophomore, junior and senior would lose their significance.

Parents also told the commission they’d like to see more career and technical education programs at high schools, and support given to smaller and more rural districts to develop elective and technical education programs.

The commission also suggested that there should be more flexibility afforded to students who experience major life changes in their high school years. The commission’s report states that students who were diagnosed with a medical condition, a family member’s death or a trauma prior to a scheduled exam were more likely to drop out of school altogether. With Regents exams scheduled for August, June and January of each year, students who miss a test in their last semester of high school often leave with no real path to graduation.

After hearing the recommendations on Monday, the state Board of Regents, which oversees educational standards for the public school system, will draft new policy requirements for educational standards, with the results expected sometime early next year.