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

[Anonymous]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/as-as-surge-md-leader-pushes-to-stay-the-course-study-possible-grade-inflation/2018/12/31/0a2e46ce-f9ba-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html?utm_term=.152f57fa54e2

I would be all for bringing back the final exams but weighing it differently than previously.

How about pick the best quarter grade (out of two quarters) and the final exam grade and then calculate the semester grade based on these two scores?

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Math is not my strongest area but how did 2 As followed by an F equal a final grade of an A?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Math is not my strongest area but how did 2 As followed by an F equal a final grade of an A?

If you got 2 A's in your quarters, you could get a A, B or C in final exam (which could not be manipulated by teachers and school admins) and would end up with an A, or you could get a D or a failing grade of E and still get a B on the semester. It was deeply flawed because there was no accountability of how the grades were given during the quarter to the students by the teachers.

In the past - The final exam was never a problem. The exam was set by the MCPS central office and it was the same for all students taking that course in the entire county. However, many of the students with inflated grades were failing this final exam, so instead of solving the problem of students not grasping content and not being taught well - they just removed the final exam.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/sharedaccountability/0301.16_OptionsForGrading9_8_webFinal.pdf

In the present - Its a party. All students are getting A's because they get 10% for turning in their homework, and then there is rampant cheating, grade inflation, easy tests/projects/presentations etc so that everyone seems to be doing well. Except when they have to take other standardized tests not administered by outside agencies. This is precisely what the WaPo article was about. These kids are becoming stupider because now they don't even have to pretend to take a final exam.

My suggestion to take the score of 1 quarter and the final exam to make a semester grade will be easiest to implement, and more accurate as to the student's ability, with enough margin to not penalize a student who did slightly poorly in one of these two scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Math is not my strongest area but how did 2 As followed by an F equal a final grade of an A?

If you got 2 A's in your quarters, you could get a A, B or C in final exam (which could not be manipulated by teachers and school admins) and would end up with an A, or you could get a D or a failing grade of E and still get a B on the semester. It was deeply flawed because there was no accountability of how the grades were given during the quarter to the students by the teachers.

In the past - The final exam was never a problem. The exam was set by the MCPS central office and it was the same for all students taking that course in the entire county. However, many of the students with inflated grades were failing this final exam, so instead of solving the problem of students not grasping content and not being taught well - they just removed the final exam.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/sharedaccountability/0301.16_OptionsForGrading9_8_webFinal.pdf

In the present - Its a party. All students are getting A's because they get 10% for turning in their homework, and then there is rampant cheating, grade inflation, easy tests/projects/presentations etc so that everyone seems to be doing well. Except when they have to take other standardized tests administered by outside agencies. This is precisely what the WaPo article was about. These kids are becoming stupider because now they don't even have to pretend to take a final exam.

My suggestion to take the score of 1 quarter and the final exam to make a semester grade will be easiest to implement, and more accurate as to the student's ability, with enough margin to not penalize a student who did slightly poorly in one of these two scores.

Correction. Referring to MAP, ACT, SAT, PARCC, APs, IBs

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

They should but they won’t. It’s easier to close the achievement gap without it than with.

[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.

OP here. I agree with you. However, knowing how MCPS functions they will cry about extra resources, more money, training, etc. etc.

Instituting the final exam back and calculating the semester grade slightly differently (with the highest quarter grade and the final exam grade), can be done without much change at the school level, grading level and in a speedy and cost effective manner.

It should make everyone happy - MCPS, parents, school, teachers, students and colleges too. The standardized tests will also reflect where the students actually stand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should but they won’t. It’s easier to close the achievement gap without it than with.

Achievement gap has become wider thanks to these smoke and mirror tactics. They are not closing the achievement gap, they are now just not reporting that achievement gap exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They should but they won’t. It’s easier to close the achievement gap without it than with.

Achievement gap has become wider thanks to these smoke and mirror tactics. They are not closing the achievement gap, they are now just not reporting that achievement gap exists.

Pp you are responding to. I totally agree. I used the word “closing” but the right word is “hiding.”

[Anonymous]

Yes, bring back final exams, which show whether and how students have synthesized all the semester or year-long learnings. Also use pluses and minuses to differentiate between students.

[Anonymous]

absolutely bring them back.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.