The writing has been on the wall for the state’s Regents examinations for a couple of years now, so Monday’s release of 12 recommendations by the state’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Measures shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.

But the commission didn’t answer a key question – how, exactly, should the state deem a high school student knows enough to be ready for college or the workforce? Commission members say the move from requiring passing five Regents exams and completing 22 credit hours in high school to the option of Regents exams, capstone projects, performance-based assessments and experiential learning won’t lessen rigor in New York’s educational system.

We say the jury is still out.

Ask any parent struggling through Common Core math with their fourth-grader if prior state Education Department changes have worked out for the better. Better yet, look at the number of children struggling to read after past best practices in education turned out to make it harder to learn to read for many children, prompting schools to move back toward phonics-driven instruction. Parents have a lot of reasons not to trust very much what the state Education Department says.

The devil on the state’s new graduation standards will be in the details – and given that the state Education Department is involved we’re sure there will be hundreds of pages of details full of edu-speak,bureaucratic jargon and assorted gobbledygook that are likely to make the new graduation standards about as clear as mud.

It’s hard to disagree with something commission member Lorna Lewis, Malvern Central Schools superintendent and co-chair of the state Superintendents Association, said during Monday’s Board of Regents meeting.

“As we spoke to industry and our graduates, it became clear to the commission that currently students are not leaving our educational institutions with the life ready skills necessary for successful trajectories,” Lewis said. “Our hope is by adding these components all students will be better prepared for whichever path they choose.”

One would hope that is the case. But Lewis’ statement also begs a question. If the last rewrites of New York’s educational standards didn’t work out, how much faith should New Yorkers have that this effort will be any different?