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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

In high school?

[Anonymous]

My MCPS HS student reads whole books.

[Anonymous]

Here's the problem. College admissions. It is getting more and more competitive. I know so many W school students getting rejected and deferred in early action and early decision this year. Why? Perhaps because these admissions officers know very well what is going on with grade inflation in MCPS. So glad we moved our DS to a private school, where he has text books, 3 hours of homework a night, papers to write for multiple classes, mid term exams, final exams, etc. Exam weighting to quarterly grades is 1/3 each. So lots of incentive to do well on exams...which are cumulative. I can sleep at night knowing that he will graduate being able to succeed in a top university. Not so much for MCPS students these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

OMG. I did not understand what the pp meant by “excerpts.” Does this mean that in HS classes, kids read excerpts of works like “Frankenstein,” but not the full book?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Take a close look at the number of MCPS college drop-outs. They don’t publish this info anywhere, as far as I know, but anecdotally, neighbors say many kids are not finishing college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Take a close look at the number of MCPS college drop-outs. They don’t publish this info anywhere, as far as I know, but anecdotally, neighbors say many kids are not finishing college.

Are you saying that there is a causal relationship between lack of cumulative final exams in HS and college drop-out rates? That's a testable hypothesis. Anecdote =/= data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's the problem. College admissions. It is getting more and more competitive. I know so many W school students getting rejected and deferred in early action and early decision this year. Why? Perhaps because these admissions officers know very well what is going on with grade inflation in MCPS. So glad we moved our DS to a private school, where he has text books, 3 hours of homework a night, papers to write for multiple classes, mid term exams, final exams, etc. Exam weighting to quarterly grades is 1/3 each. So lots of incentive to do well on exams...which are cumulative. I can sleep at night knowing that he will graduate being able to succeed in a top university. Not so much for MCPS students these days.

Lots of things keep me up at night, but worry about my child's inability to succeed in a "top university" after high school graduation is not one of them.

-MCPS parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Take a close look at the number of MCPS college drop-outs. They don’t publish this info anywhere, as far as I know, but anecdotally, neighbors say many kids are not finishing college.

I am no lover of MCPS, but, the number of "college dropouts" is high everywhere in the country. I believe the current data shows that nearly 60% of students nation-wide do not finish a bachelor's degree in 6 years.

[Anonymous]

That is because we are pushing everyone toward college when many of them shouldn't be there are all. They drop out and then have tons of student loans to repay with no means of repaying them. The default rate on the loans is pretty high. This could be avoided by making more options available to students after high school that is not necessarily the 4 year college route.

[Anonymous]

Parent of an MCPS freshman here. He has quizzes and tests all the time, often several per week. I teach at the university level and I'm not concerned about the lack of final exams - these kids are already under a lot of pressure (and my kid is a slacker, so I can only imagine how intense it is for seriously competitive/neurotic kids.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an MCPS freshman here. He has quizzes and tests all the time, often several per week. I teach at the university level and I'm not concerned about the lack of final exams - these kids are already under a lot of pressure (and my kid is a slacker, so I can only imagine how intense it is for seriously competitive/neurotic kids.)

I think parents need to keep a keen eye on what is being taught and what is being evaluated. It does not matter if your kid is in a W school, or a private school or even a highly selective magnet school. Substandard curriculum, busy work assignments, poorly framed and administered exams/tests, terrible teachers, poorly differentiated classrooms and lack of support for all kinds of students - these are the hallmark of US education across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's the problem. College admissions. It is getting more and more competitive. I know so many W school students getting rejected and deferred in early action and early decision this year. Why? Perhaps because these admissions officers know very well what is going on with grade inflation in MCPS. So glad we moved our DS to a private school, where he has text books, 3 hours of homework a night, papers to write for multiple classes, mid term exams, final exams, etc. Exam weighting to quarterly grades is 1/3 each. So lots of incentive to do well on exams...which are cumulative. I can sleep at night knowing that he will graduate being able to succeed in a top university. Not so much for MCPS students these days.

Lots of things keep me up at night, but worry about my child's inability to succeed in a "top university" after high school graduation is not one of them.

-MCPS parent

Well that's why you have a kid a MCPS...you have mediocre aspirations.

[Anonymous]

I think they should bring back final exams. I think it's a disservice to our students who are unprepared when they go off to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an MCPS freshman here. He has quizzes and tests all the time, often several per week. I teach at the university level and I'm not concerned about the lack of final exams - these kids are already under a lot of pressure (and my kid is a slacker, so I can only imagine how intense it is for seriously competitive/neurotic kids.)

I think parents need to keep a keen eye on what is being taught and what is being evaluated. It does not matter if your kid is in a W school, or a private school or even a highly selective magnet school. Substandard curriculum, busy work assignments, poorly framed and administered exams/tests, terrible teachers, poorly differentiated classrooms and lack of support for all kinds of students - these are the hallmark of US education across the board.

Well for kids who graduate from my kid’s private school, I am told college is a cakewalk by comparison. Thankfully, my kid will have a challenging curriculum at a top university, so he won’t be slacking off in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent of an MCPS freshman here. He has quizzes and tests all the time, often several per week. I teach at the university level and I'm not concerned about the lack of final exams - these kids are already under a lot of pressure (and my kid is a slacker, so I can only imagine how intense it is for seriously competitive/neurotic kids.)

I think parents need to keep a keen eye on what is being taught and what is being evaluated. It does not matter if your kid is in a W school, or a private school or even a highly selective magnet school. Substandard curriculum, busy work assignments, poorly framed and administered exams/tests, terrible teachers, poorly differentiated classrooms and lack of support for all kinds of students - these are the hallmark of US education across the board.

Well for kids who graduate from my kid’s private school, I am told college is a cakewalk by comparison. Thankfully, my kid will have a challenging curriculum at a top university, so he won’t be slacking off in college.

And you're here, posting on the MD Public Schools forum around 11 pm, on a Saturday night, because...?