PROVIDENCE — Making high school graduation more reliant on state standardized tests was not received well by many of the 75 parents, educators and student advocates who attended a public hearing on the proposal last night.

The state Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education gathered testimony on the proposed changes to the secondary school regulations at the Department of Education’s downtown headquarters. A hearing held two nights earlier — on the night of the presidential primary — drew about 40 people at Toll Gate High School in Warwick, according to an education department spokesman.

Dozens of speakers last night said they were worried about a provision that would make the English and math scores of statewide standardized tests students take at the start of 11th grade count toward one-third of their graduation requirements. The scores would also appear on students’ official transcripts for colleges and employers to see. Currently the scores of the New England Common Assessment Program account for 10 percent of graduation requirements and do not appear on transcripts.

The other two-thirds of students’ graduation requirements would include completing 20 or more rigorous courses and passing “performance-based graduation requirements” such as portfolios or senior projects, which are required for this year’s graduating class.

“The NECAP should not be used as a high-stakes assessment in Rhode Island,” said Monica Teixeira de Sousa, a professor at the New England School of Law in Boston. Teixeira de Sousa said that if the proposed requirements were in place when she graduated from Shea High School in Pawtucket, she probably would not have received a diploma and gone on to college and law school. “Sanctioning the students will only harm the students,” she said.

Some educators questioned why state education officials seemed to be embracing “high-stakes testing,” when the state has worked for the past several years to develop an entirely different method of preparing students for college and work. Rhode Island’s approach emphasizes “proficiency-based” projects, and gives students multiple ways to show they have mastered skills and knowledge, such as projects and portfolios, rather than depending solely on coursework and tests.

In addition, the tests were given to students for the first time last fall and are considerably tougher than previous assessments. Just 61 percent of this year’s juniors scored proficient in reading and only 22 percent scored proficient in math.

“Placing such importance on three 90-minute tests out of four years of high school is neither fair nor just,” said Narragansett High School Principal Daniel Warner. “There is a place for state testing … to generate data and inform instruction, not to dictate whether a student is proficient enough to graduate from high school.”

Veronika Kot, staff attorney for Rhode Island Legal Services, said she is concerned that her clients, many of whom are low income, minority, and have children with learning disabilities or limited English skills, will be unfairly penalized by an expanded emphasis on test scores.

Advocates for arts education and students with disabilities also asked the Regents to make sure the language of the proposed regulations protected the arts and the accommodations some special-education students need.

Several representatives from career and technical schools asked the Regents to be flexible when evaluating the curriculum and course work of vocational students, since, in many cases, those students are complying with the state academic standards in ways that may look different than traditional high schools.

Regents Colleen Callaghan, Robert Camera, Angus Davis and Patrick Guida said they would consider the testimony as they review the regulations, and plan to bring the matter before the full board for a vote later this spring.

Education Commissioner Peter McWalters said that if the changes are approved, it will take education officials a few years to figure out key details, such as what score determines whether a student will graduate.

“If we do this right, it shouldn’t be a block to an individual student,” McWalters said. He also said students who perform poorly on the tests in their junior year will be able to re-take them during their senior year.

The proposed regulations are posted on the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Web site: www.ride.ri.gov under Board of Regents/Regents Regulations.

jjordan@projo.com