MCPS ditching High School Final Exam

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/one-of-nations-largest-school-districts-ditches-high-school-final-exams/2015/09/08/49cf5810-561e-11e5-b8c9-944725fcd3b9_story.html

I totally understand. This is institutionalized cheating. I mean, how else can you explain how students who "earn" straight A's in the quarters, fail Math semester exams - even when the bar is so low?

This will help kids at both ends of the spectrum - the entitled kids who are used to grade inflation and those kids who can never bridge the achievement gap.

So, what does it mean for those who have worked hard at school? 1600 on the new SAT? And 18 APs each? Maybe SAT will become most important? Perhaps it will include Calculus now? One can only hope.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, my kid who got straight A's in both quarters of Algebra isn't wasting any time studying for a semester final which will neither go on her transcript nor affect her semester grade, which WILL go on her transcript. She doesn't care one whit if she gets an E, and if she does so, it doesn't mean she cheated to get her As. She is spending the time she saved NOT studying for algebra and instead studying for her French semester final in order to pull her A/B quarter grades to an A for the semester, which she can only do by getting an A on the final. This is as it should be - why should she have to prove twice that she knows the Algebra material?

I am more worried about the kids who get Cs or below on Algebra quarter grades - MCPS instruction is not working for those kids and they have motivation to study for a final because they are clueless in the class.

[Anonymous]

If your kid got A's in both the quarters, she will not get an E in the semester exam even if she bombed it. Unless, of course she cheated to get the As in the first place.

And the Final Exam is a part of the grade that goes on the transcript.

What are you smoking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid got A's in both the quarters, she will not get an E in the semester exam even if she bombed it. Unless, of course she cheated to get the As in the first place.

And the Final Exam is a part of the grade that goes on the transcript.

What are you smoking?

Initially I believed that. However grade inflation is insane.

[Anonymous]

The exams were very easy. Low bar showing you know the basics. I think my kids will actually be unhappy since they generally helped their grades without much effort.

[Anonymous]

Guess what? This is just about money and nothing else. It is not a best practice and all of the teachers I know are still giving exams. Because EVERY ONE of the kids going to college need to know how to prepare for and take exams. But now we will all be giving them at the same time, overlapping one another and stressing the hell out of the kids. Yay. Our only other option is to be the super nice teacher who gives it early to avoid the overlap but then misses a week of instruction.

This is complete bulls**t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guess what? This is just about money and nothing else. It is not a best practice and all of the teachers I know are still giving exams. Because EVERY ONE of the kids going to college need to know how to prepare for and take exams. But now we will all be giving them at the same time, overlapping one another and stressing the hell out of the kids. Yay. Our only other option is to be the super nice teacher who gives it early to avoid the overlap but then misses a week of instruction.

This is complete bulls**t.

Maybe, but I didn't have finals in high school, and somehow I managed.

[Anonymous]

I thought the central office curriculum crew were crazy when they switched from a-e grading to the es,p,i,n for elementary school, now getting rid of high school finals I know they are crazy. Also, an granular level some of the material distributed under C 2.0 is poor too. It's not the teachers its the curriculum office on a county wide basis that needs improvement.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are against this and the PTA is against this. So in other words, the families who are being served and the people who are real educators are against it, but a handful of people in the curriculum offices and upper-level people are for it? It sounds like the people who are deciding this are gung-ho to dumb things down so no one notices how poor the connections are from what they produce and what is learned.

Well, this is one way to close the achievement gap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are against this and the PTA is against this. So in other words, the families who are being served and the people who are real educators are against it, but a handful of people in the curriculum offices and upper-level people are for it? It sounds like the people who are deciding this are gung-ho to dumb things down so no one notices how poor the connections are from what they produce and what is learned.

Well, this is one way to close the achievement gap.

Everybody is screaming that there is too much testing. And the BoE can't get rid of the Maryland state tests or the NCLB tests. So what do you suggest instead?

[Anonymous]

There are only 2 of those tests in high school. It's not really relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are against this and the PTA is against this. So in other words, the families who are being served and the people who are real educators are against it, but a handful of people in the curriculum offices and upper-level people are for it? It sounds like the people who are deciding this are gung-ho to dumb things down so no one notices how poor the connections are from what they produce and what is learned.

Well, this is one way to close the achievement gap.

Politicians pretty much make all the educational decisions at all levels. We are all just pawns in their game. And, for what it's worth, teachers were not asked to give their feedback about this. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. We saw how the bell times issue ended up. Who cares what the people actually in the field think, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are against this and the PTA is against this. So in other words, the families who are being served and the people who are real educators are against it, but a handful of people in the curriculum offices and upper-level people are for it? It sounds like the people who are deciding this are gung-ho to dumb things down so no one notices how poor the connections are from what they produce and what is learned.

Well, this is one way to close the achievement gap.

It actually isn't, since MCPS doesn't use high school final exam results as a measure of the achievement gap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid got A's in both the quarters, she will not get an E in the semester exam even if she bombed it. Unless, of course she cheated to get the As in the first place.

And the Final Exam is a part of the grade that goes on the transcript.

What are you smoking?

The final doesn't go on the transcript that goes to colleges

And you have to get a C or above on the final to get an A in the course, even if you got As in both quarters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the central office curriculum crew were crazy when they switched from a-e grading to the es,p,i,n for elementary school, now getting rid of high school finals I know they are crazy. Also, an granular level some of the material distributed under C 2.0 is poor too. It's not the teachers its the curriculum office on a county wide basis that needs improvement.

Exactly! The central office folks pretend to listen to teachers, but they really don't. Teachers were very much against this because teachers know the students need to learn how to take a cumulative test on material they have learned in class. They will have to do this in college, if they go. If they choose to go into the military or pursue a trade or some other career, the discipline of studying for a final exams will serve them well.

This decision is all about trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The 2.0 Curriculum SUCKS! The elementary grading system is a joke because the range of what is considered "proficient " is so broad as to be meaningless. The people making the decisions are CLUELESS about what classrooms need and they disregard what teachers say they want.

I'm SO tired of MCPS administrators. Year after year they make it more difficult to teach kids. Please HELP us teachers by CONTACTING THE BOARD to object to this ridiculous decision.