Reply to MCPS policy on not returning quizzes, tests and exams to students

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "MCPS policy on not returning quizzes, tests and exams to students"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

+1. And if the students study the old tests so that they can do the new one with these changes, that is good enough for me. That is called learning. [/quote]

I call it cheating, unless MCPS makes all of the old tests available to everybody. And if MCPS does make all of the old tests available to everybody, I call it memorizing what's on the test.[/quote]

In what way is that cheating, how creative do you think algebra is? If you change around the functions and numbers, and the kids still know how to do them, isn't that your goal?

They should make the old tests available to everybody. After all, there is nothing really new in algebra, but there is also no danger in running out of problems to ask on an exam. [/quote]

+1
PP is silly.   If we want a kid to learn to solve for X in equations like:  2X + 4 = 10, then one year we could use that equation.  The next year, we could use 3x + 1 = 10
See how I did that?  I just rewrote one question on an algebra exam!  It took me 30 seconds!
So, if the exam had 20 questions, I could do it in about 10 minutes.  Let's be generous and give me an hour.  Whoo-boy.
And if the kid had access to last year's exam, then they would see that this year's exam would include questions like 2X + 4 = 10.  And that would not be cheating, because it's a different question.  And yet, it's instructive in the sense that it shows what kind of question we want them to be able to solve.
THIS. IS. JUST. NOT. THAT. HARD.[/quote]

So, then, why can't the kids just study the same materials that they've been using in class all along? Homework, class work and notes? Why the need for the actual test papers if the problems are just variations on a theme?
[/quote]

Or the school-level formatives, which ARE returned?  Why is that not enough practice and preparation?[/quote]

IF in fact, the school-level formatives or quizzes were the same kind of questions, then it would be fine.  But that's a big "if" that you don't actually know is true.  And also, "if" the teachers actually don't make mistakes in grading the quizzes (remember, these are people we don't trust to make a new algebra question every year, so not sure where the blind faith on this score comes from), then this is also fine.  But you know what else is fine?  Looking at the kid's test, seeing where they made mistakes, and learning from that.  It's valuable.
Here's another question -- maybe the kid gets nervous for big tests.  maybe the quizzes are smaller or different in some way and the kid does well on them. But then blows the final exam.  It would be helpful for a parent to see the exam so that the parent can see whether or not the questions are similar, to figure out if the problem is: 1) different kinds of questions were on the final, and the kid doesn't know that material; or 2) the kid got those kinds of questions right on the quizzes, but then got them wrong on the final; or 3) the final had the same kinds of questions, but in a tighter time frame, thus indicating the kid has issues with doing things quickly enough.
That's just one example of why this would be helpful, off the top of my head.  We could come up with dozens of others.  What's the reticence?[/quote]

At the risk of bring accused of making up an imaginary child, I asked my MSer about the county-level test she just took, and she shrugged and said it was the same as the other school tests she'd taken.[/quote]

Whoa   What great lines of communication you have with one another.  It sure make me feel better that I can't see the major tests. [/quote]

The point is that she didn't feel blindsided or confused about what she was being asked to master.  If she told me it was stuff she didn't know or recognize, and she didn't do well, I'd reach out to her teacher and ask to see the summative.  But the school formative grade matched the summative, I saw the school test, so what else do I need to know?[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics