Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't they have finals?

Not since the Obama administration.

What? Doesn't anyone in high school take finals?

The Board of Education eliminated final exams at the end of both semesters back in 2015 or so. So no, no one in high school takes finals. Many do take AP and/or IB Exams, but they obviously don't count toward the course grade and they've already been taken weeks ago.

Why did they do that? Do they take midterms for year-long courses? How can these students be prepared for college if they've never taken cumulative exams?

There are no year-long courses in high school. All courses are semester-length.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't they have finals?

Not since the Obama administration.

What? Doesn't anyone in high school take finals?

The Board of Education eliminated final exams at the end of both semesters back in 2015 or so. So no, no one in high school takes finals. Many do take AP and/or IB Exams, but they obviously don't count toward the course grade and they've already been taken weeks ago.

Why did they do that? Do they take midterms for year-long courses? How can these students be prepared for college if they've never taken cumulative exams?

You can read about the policy change here:

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/9ZX24L76095D/$file/Policy%20IKA%20Tentative%20Action.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of the Friday half day? I bet 2/3 of the high school kids will skip that day. Not sure about lower grades.
The 180 day rule is dumb. So much wasted time in school.

High school students don't report to school for the half day Friday. Instead, rising 9th graders report to their high school for orientation.

Totally agree about the 180 day requirement. We should use number of hours, not number of days, like Virginia does. It eliminates the foolishness of making up inclement weather days too.

Huh? I have never heard of this happening. Rising 9th graders would typically report to their high school on the last Thursday before school starts in August.

My rising 9th graders don't have orientation at the high school that day but they do have some sort of graduation ceremony there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't they have finals?

Not since the Obama administration.

What? Doesn't anyone in high school take finals?

The Board of Education eliminated final exams at the end of both semesters back in 2015 or so. So no, no one in high school takes finals. Many do take AP and/or IB Exams, but they obviously don't count toward the course grade and they've already been taken weeks ago.

Why did they do that? Do they take midterms for year-long courses? How can these students be prepared for college if they've never taken cumulative exams?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of the Friday half day? I bet 2/3 of the high school kids will skip that day. Not sure about lower grades.
The 180 day rule is dumb. So much wasted time in school.

High school students don't report to school for the half day Friday. Instead, rising 9th graders report to their high school for orientation.

Totally agree about the 180 day requirement. We should use number of hours, not number of days, like Virginia does. It eliminates the foolishness of making up inclement weather days too.

Huh? I have never heard of this happening. Rising 9th graders would typically report to their high school on the last Thursday before school starts in August.

mcps should start school in mid-august and end at the beginning of june. with the current schedule, it's a month of prolonged winding down.

for this most bizarre school year, i think a prolonged wind down is fine, because everyone reallly needs a break. but moving forward, i don't see the point of it. students would learn more by bumping up the schedule by a couple weeks imo.

For My junior, the last day to submit any work was yesterday, got this email from the teacher

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of the Friday half day? I bet 2/3 of the high school kids will skip that day. Not sure about lower grades.
The 180 day rule is dumb. So much wasted time in school.

High school students don't report to school for the half day Friday. Instead, rising 9th graders report to their high school for orientation.

Totally agree about the 180 day requirement. We should use number of hours, not number of days, like Virginia does. It eliminates the foolishness of making up inclement weather days too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't they have finals?

Not since the Obama administration.

What? Doesn't anyone in high school take finals?

The Board of Education eliminated final exams at the end of both semesters back in 2015 or so. So no, no one in high school takes finals. Many do take AP and/or IB Exams, but they obviously don't count toward the course grade and they've already been taken weeks ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary teacher and we've already made it through the ELA and math pacing guide in terms of lessons that must be taught this year. We've had our end of year parties and field days so next week just feels like checking a box to say we had 180 days of school. Really stupid to be going back.

Or you could plan enrichment activities that reinforce this year's learning...

Yes, I’m sure that you, random parent, know much more about managing elementary schoolers the last week of school than the teachers who ACTUALLY DO IT!

PP Teacher here - thanks for the tip mom, I thought we would just sit in our classroom all day and stare at the walls. Of course we're going to do some fun activities and things we can't normally do since we are locked into the boring Benchmark curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:My freshman has a math test, a physics project, a French project, and an English presentation. They’ve already taken their stuff home for PE and band, so probably nothing in those classes, and their AP Gov class is watching movies. So kind of a mixed bag.

The OP is just trolling. Although I'm sure some teaching are winding things down, school is still in session. If they want to be taken seriously, they'll post specifics.

Anonymous wrote:My son is a junior and keeps asking to stay home next week.
He said his teachers are not doing anything next week and he has already turned in all assignments.
I’m not sure whether to make him go or not. I recently learned that attendance this year doesn’t really mean anything.
MCPS is not enforcing any attendance policies.

My kids have plenty of assignments and tests to complete.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Movies, if that. Nope, no actual learning happening

I’m a high school teacher. I stopped showing movies because the kids just look at their phones any way

Why do you allow that?

Allow it? I'm a teacher and I tell my students to put their phones away during class. If they don't, I'm not allowed to take them away. I'm not allowed to touch them and the kids know it. The kids run the show when there are no real consequences.

Seems like a failure of the administration.

Most of the issues in schools these days are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary teacher and we've already made it through the ELA and math pacing guide in terms of lessons that must be taught this year. We've had our end of year parties and field days so next week just feels like checking a box to say we had 180 days of school. Really stupid to be going back.

Or you could plan enrichment activities that reinforce this year's learning...

Yes, I’m sure that you, random parent, know much more about managing elementary schoolers the last week of school than the teachers who ACTUALLY DO IT!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Movies, if that. Nope, no actual learning happening

I’m a high school teacher. I stopped showing movies because the kids just look at their phones any way

Why do you allow that?

Allow it? I'm a teacher and I tell my students to put their phones away during class. If they don't, I'm not allowed to take them away. I'm not allowed to touch them and the kids know it. The kids run the show when there are no real consequences.

Seems like a failure of the administration.