Exams the last week of school?

[Anonymous]

There is no way those grades get on the grades book. Skip the test. It won't matter whatsoever!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school calendar has underclassmen final exams scheduled on the last two days of school. This seems odd given the half days and that seniors in the same classes would have graduated and been done by then. Do any teachers know if this is accurate? In the past, the grades always seemed to be due prior to the last week.

You’re thinking of elementary school and possibly middle school then. High school has always worked this way. The exam is part of the final grade so grades cannot be due before the final exams. And final exams have always been scheduled up until the last day. So no leaving early for vacation this year. Sorry.

Our high school did not have any testing the last week of school last year. Kids just did fun end of school stuff. Well deserved after all the AP exams and SOLs.

Which school? Every school I’ve worked at had finals, a project or presentation of some sort during final exam week. That sounds like a waste of time and asking students to skip in HS. - teacher

I doubt teachers want to grade a stack of essays and exams feeling the crunch of the end of the year,m deadline, cleaning up the classroom, juggling meetings, etc the very.last.week.of.school.

It’s half days, we see each class one time and give the final in the morning then grade in the afternoon. Most of us aren’t giving big essay tests as the last final. At least any experienced teacher isn’t. How long do you think it takes me to clean up my classroom? This isn’t elementary school. It’s not that complicated in HS.

+1
The grading (confirming quarter grades in HS vs entering them at the ES level) is also much easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, finals are the last week of school. I teach at Robinson, we have explicitly been told we must give a final project or activity during the last block, it cannot be a party/movie/origami/field games day.

Read the syllabi for the classes. We were required to write if we intended to do a project or exam when we wrote them back in August.

Does the syllabus say you're doing the exam the last three half-days of school specifically? I looked at ours, and they do not. I've had at least one kid at another FCPS HS for five years now, and they've never had final exams the last three half days of school, and sending out the notice in April that they're suddenly requiring the final/project on those specific days is ridiculous.

My junior is registered for an academic camp that directly aligns with their intended major that was only offered at that time and had to be booked in January. It's basically to help them decide if they want to commit to this specific field, which is very rigidly scheduled and tough to transfer to other majors if they decide they don't want to do it. This is the only time any of our kids have ever missed school for anything other than illness or a doctor's appointment that could not be scheduled on a non-school day, so I'm kind of pissed that they picked this year to decide that "mandatory" finals are going to be on the last three days of school when when they've never been anything but yearbook signing and end-of-year social time.

Please tell me which FCPS high school has not given any finals for five years. I understand that most AP classes have "finals" in late April as a practice for the AP tests. But your sophomores did not have finals in Biology or World History? Your freshmen did not have finals in their math classes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, finals are the last week of school. I teach at Robinson, we have explicitly been told we must give a final project or activity during the last block, it cannot be a party/movie/origami/field games day.

Read the syllabi for the classes. We were required to write if we intended to do a project or exam when we wrote them back in August.

Does the syllabus say you're doing the exam the last three half-days of school specifically? I looked at ours, and they do not. I've had at least one kid at another FCPS HS for five years now, and they've never had final exams the last three half days of school, and sending out the notice in April that they're suddenly requiring the final/project on those specific days is ridiculous.

My junior is registered for an academic camp that directly aligns with their intended major that was only offered at that time and had to be booked in January. It's basically to help them decide if they want to commit to this specific field, which is very rigidly scheduled and tough to transfer to other majors if they decide they don't want to do it. This is the only time any of our kids have ever missed school for anything other than illness or a doctor's appointment that could not be scheduled on a non-school day, so I'm kind of pissed that they picked this year to decide that "mandatory" finals are going to be on the last three days of school when when they've never been anything but yearbook signing and end-of-year social time.

Please tell me which FCPS high school has not given any finals for five years. I understand that most AP classes have "finals" in late April as a practice for the AP tests. But your sophomores did not have finals in Biology or World History? Your freshmen did not have finals in their math classes?

^^^ and I mean did they not have finals during the regularly scheduled final exam blocks during the last 5 days of school? I understand that the final day of school is nothing, but the 4 previous days are finals for underclassmen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school calendar has underclassmen final exams scheduled on the last two days of school. This seems odd given the half days and that seniors in the same classes would have graduated and been done by then. Do any teachers know if this is accurate? In the past, the grades always seemed to be due prior to the last week.

You’re thinking of elementary school and possibly middle school then. High school has always worked this way. The exam is part of the final grade so grades cannot be due before the final exams. And final exams have always been scheduled up until the last day. So no leaving early for vacation this year. Sorry.

Our high school did not have any testing the last week of school last year. Kids just did fun end of school stuff. Well deserved after all the AP exams and SOLs.

Which school? Every school I’ve worked at had finals, a project or presentation of some sort during final exam week. That sounds like a waste of time and asking students to skip in HS. - teacher

I doubt teachers want to grade a stack of essays and exams feeling the crunch of the end of the year,m deadline, cleaning up the classroom, juggling meetings, etc the very.last.week.of.school.

It’s half days, we see each class one time and give the final in the morning then grade in the afternoon. Most of us aren’t giving big essay tests as the last final. At least any experienced teacher isn’t. How long do you think it takes me to clean up my classroom? This isn’t elementary school. It’s not that complicated in HS.

+1 most of the exams are multiple choice - something fairly easy to grade.

[Anonymous]

Most finals at Oakton are in April. Then AP or SOL exams. Some “finals” the last week of school are only to pull up a grade. I do think it’s a failure to not convey final exams are administered that last week of school which has historically been all fun and games. It’s a big shift in what was traditionally a fluff week. Last year teachers said their grades were already done a week earlier.

[Anonymous]

Also, what if a kid is sick. How do they make up a final if it’s on the last day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, what if a kid is sick. How do they make up a final if it’s on the last day?

How do you think it happens at college? Sometimes it gets excused, sometimes it gets made up later in the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most finals at Oakton are in April. Then AP or SOL exams. Some “finals” the last week of school are only to pull up a grade. I do think it’s a failure to not convey final exams are administered that last week of school which has historically been all fun and games. It’s a big shift in what was traditionally a fluff week. Last year teachers said their grades were already done a week earlier.

Wow! Shame on Oakton HS. My kids are at Chantilly, and I've taught at 3 other HSs in FCPS. We/they always had finals (or sometimes projects due) during the scheduled final exam half days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what if a kid is sick. How do they make up a final if it’s on the last day?

How do you think it happens at college? Sometimes it gets excused, sometimes it gets made up later in the week.

After the last day of school? No teacher is coming in after the last day to administer a test

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most finals at Oakton are in April. Then AP or SOL exams. Some “finals” the last week of school are only to pull up a grade. I do think it’s a failure to not convey final exams are administered that last week of school which has historically been all fun and games. It’s a big shift in what was traditionally a fluff week. Last year teachers said their grades were already done a week earlier.

Wow! Shame on Oakton HS. My kids are at Chantilly, and I've taught at 3 other HSs in FCPS. We/they always had finals (or sometimes projects due) during the scheduled final exam half days.

It’s not that serious. Finishing up the syllabus a week ahead of time is responsible and good time management.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most finals at Oakton are in April. Then AP or SOL exams. Some “finals” the last week of school are only to pull up a grade. I do think it’s a failure to not convey final exams are administered that last week of school which has historically been all fun and games. It’s a big shift in what was traditionally a fluff week. Last year teachers said their grades were already done a week earlier.

Wow! Shame on Oakton HS. My kids are at Chantilly, and I've taught at 3 other HSs in FCPS. We/they always had finals (or sometimes projects due) during the scheduled final exam half days.

Oakton is a lot easier than Chantilly. Chantilly is a very homework heavy school. Oakton kids don’t get nearly as much homework in their honors and AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, what if a kid is sick. How do they make up a final if it’s on the last day?

How do you think it happens at college? Sometimes it gets excused, sometimes it gets made up later in the week.

After the last day of school? No teacher is coming in after the last day to administer a test

Teacher here. Over the years, I have given makeup finals to several students on the teacher work day after school ends. Others have done the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most finals at Oakton are in April. Then AP or SOL exams. Some “finals” the last week of school are only to pull up a grade. I do think it’s a failure to not convey final exams are administered that last week of school which has historically been all fun and games. It’s a big shift in what was traditionally a fluff week. Last year teachers said their grades were already done a week earlier.

Wow! Shame on Oakton HS. My kids are at Chantilly, and I've taught at 3 other HSs in FCPS. We/they always had finals (or sometimes projects due) during the scheduled final exam half days.

It’s not that serious. Finishing up the syllabus a week ahead of time is responsible and good time management.

My guess is that Oakton is actually doing less than other schools. Sure, they might be "finishing up the syllabis." But they are certainly skipping out on additional learning/extensions/applications/projects that other high schools are including in their curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, what if a kid is sick. How do they make up a final if it’s on the last day?

It depends.

If they miss the first day of finals, they can take it in the afternoon on any of the other half days that week. Teachers still have to work contract hours, even if students go home at noon.

If they miss the last day of finals, they can take it on that silly 2 hour last day.

If they are seriously ill and miss the whole week, their grade is marked “incomplete” and a copy of the final exam is left with the grade level administrator. They proctor it at a mutually agreed upon time (they work year round vs 10 months) and then they update the final grade.

Or they take the zero and are okay with it. Finals count as a max of 10% in the class, but some teachers make it less so it really can’t change your grade from a B to an F.