MCPS ditching High School Final Exam

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So instead of asking for evidence from a stranger on an anonymous forum, I think you need to do some studying up on your fav school district.

How about before posting on a forum you include evidence to strengthen your point! At least in the article they mention that honors (the majority of kids) are doing fine and we can assume the AP kids are doing fine so again it is the struggling students who are struggling. I am Ok with that actually.

You think 13% of honor students failing a final exam is okay? I think that is horrible. That should be the regular class level percentages. Honors kids get A's and few B's in all subjects. This wasn't a getting a C or even a D on the final exam. 13% flat out failed it.

OK, it's horrible. But what does it mean? The kids didn't study? The grading policy is bad? The test is bad? The curriculum is bad? What?

If 100% of honor students got an A or a B on the final exam, people would say that the test is too easy, and it's grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

If you knew a lot about MCPS you would know that honors IS the regular level. At least at my (non-W) MS and HS the majority are in honors level classes. It means little more than you speak English, show up, and hand assignments in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you knew a lot about MCPS you would know that honors IS the regular level. At least at my (non-W) MS and HS the majority are in honors level classes. It means little more than you speak English, show up, and hand assignments in.

Not in math.

[Anonymous]

Even kids who take 8th grade algebra take honors geometry in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even kids who take 8th grade algebra take honors geometry in HS.

For kids who are currently taking 8th grade algebra, that's the above-grade-level track. So yes, it would make sense for them to take honors geometry in high school.

[Anonymous]

No 8th grade algebra is on grade level now - this is the third year of 2.0 algebra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you knew a lot about MCPS you would know that honors IS the regular level. At least at my (non-W) MS and HS the majority are in honors level classes. It means little more than you speak English, show up, and hand assignments in.

haha, that is so true! This is what our county schools have turned into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Evidence that kids are failing the exams in every subject?
Both of my kids have said the math exams include information not covered in class..

Final exam scores for some high school biology, English and history courses in Montgomery County show failure rates of 37 to 50 percent, according to new school data that add to questions about student performance in the well-regarded school district.

The figures come at a time of widespread concern about failing and near-failing grades on math exams in Montgomery. Last semester, a majority of the 30,000 high school students taking seven countywide math exams failed the end-of-semester tests.

The new information gives the exam-failure problem another dimension, showing that it extends to non-math courses, although the failure rates are not as high. For example, more than 50 percent of students failed a modern world history exam typically taken by 11th-graders. The failure rates were similar for exams in U.S. history, at 42 percent, and biology, at 40 percent.

In the same three courses, students fared much better at the honors level, with failure rates of 13 percent on the final exams for each.

“It’s troubling,” said Board of Education member Patricia O’Neill (Bethesda-Chevy Chase). “It raises tons of questions. It is clearly not just a math problem.”

You REALLY want to like MCPS, don't you? Most uninformed people are happy to keep looking away while touting how great the school district is. It is hard to admit the county is failing and now covering up it's failures by getting rid of the exams all together.

So instead of asking for evidence from a stranger on an anonymous forum, I think you need to do some studying up on your fav school district.

Wow, it is indeed troubling. And now they are completely doing away with them? Seems very shady to me.

[Anonymous]

The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

What, exactly, did which numbers show, and why do you think that they showed that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

What, exactly, did which numbers show, and why do you think that they showed that?

Reread the thread (actually read it, because it is obvious you didn't.) look at the articles and links posted and then come back when you are informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

+1

But you have parents that are defending it and just happy their kids will get easy grades now. And they wonder why Americans continue to fall behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

What, exactly, did which numbers show, and why do you think that they showed that?

Reread the thread (actually read it, because it is obvious you didn't.) look at the articles and links posted and then come back when you are informed.

I have read the thread. I would like to know which numbers you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

+1

But you have parents that are defending it and just happy their kids will get easy grades now. And they wonder why Americans continue to fall behind.

I haven't heard or read any parents saying, "I'm so happy that MCPS got rid of two-hour final exam periods for high-school classes, because now my child will get easy grades!" Have you? Where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The numbers showed everything. Doing away with the exams is just a massive coverup on how bad the schools are really teaching them the required curriculum. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is a fool.

+1

But you have parents that are defending it and just happy their kids will get easy grades now. And they wonder why Americans continue to fall behind.

I haven't heard or read any parents saying, "I'm so happy that MCPS got rid of two-hour final exam periods for high-school classes, because now my child will get easy grades!" Have you? Where?

As a parent, I am greatly disappointed in the Board of Education. Here they have evidence of a clear problems in education. Students should be able to pass these exams. I have long suspected the issue was MORE than just math because my kids have been saying for YEARS topics were on the county exam that the teacher did not cover in class. I have actually gone and looked at my child's high school exams and found errors on the tests that according to the department chair, had been there for over 10 years. MCPS has been giving exams for years that were not thoroughly vetted but because the tests do not come home and it is a pain in the ass to go to the school to review the tests, it wasn't until my inspection that these errors were discovered.

The failure to review the exams with students, the failure to rewrite the tests to make them better measurements, as well as the failure to teach comprehensively the curriculum throughout the county is why you have high performing students failing midterm and end of the year exams. Getting rid of these tests are not the problem. They are bad data points that proves there are serious flaws in our county's public education system. Taking away the exams is paramount to the BOE sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the serous problems plaguing the system.