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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]And the teacher doesn't always change. Maybe half the time.[/quote]

So what is the reasoning behind making it two different semesters with possibly two different teachers? If everyone has to take a full academic year of these courses, why are they breaking them up?[/quote]
A couple of reasons for breaking a full year course into two semesters:
- Provide a concrete "wrap-up point" where all teachers need to be at the same spot in curriculum. Without it, some teachers might speed up or slow down the curriculum and cover more or less or different content than other teachers in the school and county.
- Used to be a good spot for a cumulative exam covering 4 months of material, which also used to be a good way to compare the content being taught and success of students across the county.
- There are some courses that are only a semester (Health), and depending on the school's schedule, there may be some shifting around of when different sections occur.
- Allows a break point for students to change course levels.
- Allows a break point for counselors to level enrollment in sections (which may get lopsided due to course enrollment changes during the semester) or even adjust the number and type of sections (drop an Honors section and add an on-level section, or collapse sections that got too small)
- Although sometimes a class of students really settles in, gets to know each other and works really well together, other times there is just a mix of students that need to be broken up in order for everyone to refocus on coursework. 
- Teachers all have different personalities and styles, and students all have different personalities and styles. Sometimes the match between teacher and student is amazing, most of the times it is good, and sometimes it is a poor fit. (And I'm not saying the teacher is bad - the same teacher can be amazing for one student and a poor fit with a different student.) Switching classes around gives everyone a fresh start.

Back to the original question, I think MCPS should bring back final exams, but only for Honors courses (AP/IB have their own tests). Right now, there really isn't a distinction from a curriculum perspective between Honors and on-level. Having semester cumulative final exams in Honors would bring some meaning back to the idea of Honors courses, and would better prepare college bound students.

-HS Teacher[/quote]

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