S/O - should MCPS bring back final exams for each semester?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought they got rid of them because too many students failed them.

No, the reason was that many students had inflated grades in the two quarters, but failed the final exam and still ended up with A's.

Earlier policy was that two A's out of three scores (Q1, Q2 and Final) make an A. Since final exam was administered by MCPS central office, the students who were given easy A's by teachers in two quarters at the school, could fail the final exam (which was unbiased) but still get an A.

Now there is grade inflation because students are being given easy A's in two quarters and there is no final exam to test their knowledge. As a result they are doing poorly in other standardized exams ranging from MAPs, PARCC, SATs to APs.

My proposal would be a good compromise because it would allow students to be tested for grasp of content knowledge (final exam), as well as allow them to recover from doing poorly in any one quarter because only 1 best score out of both quarters would be considered.

Where did the article state this?

This article touched upon only that there is grade inflation. The fact that there has been a decline in performance in standardized tests have been covered in other threads on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't the county implement regular standardized content tests throughout the year in addition to the final? I always had to take regular tests (maybe once a month or so) for every class I took. It was entirely based on the curriculum and pacing guide of that class so I had taken maybe 3-4 tests prior to the midterm. If I did poorly on them, I had to redo the questions for homework for no extra credit. PARCC reading tests don't actually test the content taught in classes so that's why the scores suck. If there was such thing as content tests regularly throughout the year starting in 3rd or 4th grade, students would actually be tested on the content of the class. Now they are hit with random reading passages about God only knows what content.

This used to exist in many required classes. The state recently passed legislation limiting the amount of instructional time that can be used for standardized testing. I think the limit is 2%. The County therefore had to eliminate all of these standardized unit tests.

[Anonymous]

So they chose content shifting PARCC tests instead of regular unit tests?

[Anonymous]

Bring them back. MCPS is run by idiots

[Anonymous]

Most people would agree with this:


Patricia O’Neill, vice president of the board, said she understood Smith’s rationale, but it had not alleviated her concerns. “I still feel there’s grade inflation,” she said. “I don’t think they necessarily proved their case that there’s not.”

O’Neill said she would support a grading approach that gives students a percentage-based grade for each quarter, which could then be averaged, or that uses pluses and minuses with letter grades.

[Anonymous]

too much testing - the original claim

So they eliminated final exams.

As an educator, I worry about the emphasis on skills over content. Social studies is now all about skills, as it's become another reading class. I say this as an ELA teacher who PREFERS to teach concepts through author's style. Students should be familiar with an author's body of work. But we are told that teaching excerpts is equally as effective.

What's the result? Kids don't know how to study. So when they hit the finals in college, where they are responsible for a semester's worth of CONTENT, they suffer.

We are NOW in a system that still offers final exams. My HS daughter has to study. She has to memorize information before she applies it and eventually analyzes it.

MCPS is a hot mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:too much testing - the original claim

So they eliminated final exams.

As an educator, I worry about the emphasis on skills over content. Social studies is now all about skills, as it's become another reading class. I say this as an ELA teacher who PREFERS to teach concepts through author's style. Students should be familiar with an author's body of work. But we are told that teaching excerpts is equally as effective.

What's the result? Kids don't know how to study. So when they hit the finals in college, where they are responsible for a semester's worth of CONTENT, they suffer.

We are NOW in a system that still offers final exams. My HS daughter has to study. She has to memorize information before she applies it and eventually analyzes it.

MCPS is a hot mess.

I can't believe that this is part of the curriculum - teaching excerpts instead of having kids read the entire book -- especially in English class. But, it's true. My DD read a number of excerpts, but was hardly ever required to read the entire book. What a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another vote for bringing them back. I was dumbfounded when they were eliminated, even if they weren't as valuable as they should have been. These kids will not know what hit them when they get to their first semester of college.

There were no cumulative final exams in my school system when I graduated from high school, but I don't ever remember hearing from anybody that cumulative final exams were a problem when we got to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't the county implement regular standardized content tests throughout the year in addition to the final? I always had to take regular tests (maybe once a month or so) for every class I took. It was entirely based on the curriculum and pacing guide of that class so I had taken maybe 3-4 tests prior to the midterm. If I did poorly on them, I had to redo the questions for homework for no extra credit. PARCC reading tests don't actually test the content taught in classes so that's why the scores suck. If there was such thing as content tests regularly throughout the year starting in 3rd or 4th grade, students would actually be tested on the content of the class. Now they are hit with random reading passages about God only knows what content.

I would favor regular system-wide content tests throughout the year, without a final.

Actually they have those, don't they?

[Anonymous]

I have a Middle School student, so perhaps I don't know enough to opine, but my child has PLENTY of quizzes and subject area assessments throughout the year - too many in my opinion. I would not pile on final exams to the current Middle School experience we are having (even for the "high school level" classes like Math and language).

[Anonymous]

My high school aged nephew visited us over winter break and said he isn't expected to read an entire novel. They read parts of it and do a lot of close reading. WTH? My son's private school expects him to read chapters for HW and prepare for either a literature circle or a lecture. My nephew said they aren't allowed to take the novels home with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a Middle School student, so perhaps I don't know enough to opine, but my child has PLENTY of quizzes and subject area assessments throughout the year - too many in my opinion. I would not pile on final exams to the current Middle School experience we are having (even for the "high school level" classes like Math and language).

NP - quizzes and unit tests are not the same as being able to synthesize a semester or year’s worth of material to show mastery and how units relate to one another.

[Anonymous]

But the achievement gap! The achievement gap!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a Middle School student, so perhaps I don't know enough to opine, but my child has PLENTY of quizzes and subject area assessments throughout the year - too many in my opinion. I would not pile on final exams to the current Middle School experience we are having (even for the "high school level" classes like Math and language).

NP - quizzes and unit tests are not the same as being able to synthesize a semester or year’s worth of material to show mastery and how units relate to one another.

No, of course they're not, and they're not intended to be. The question is whether a system-wide cumulative semester or annual final exam for high school classes is worth it. I don't think it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school aged nephew visited us over winter break and said he isn't expected to read an entire novel. They read parts of it and do a lot of close reading. WTH? My son's private school expects him to read chapters for HW and prepare for either a literature circle or a lecture. My nephew said they aren't allowed to take the novels home with them.

My mcps student reads books for hw and also has literature circles