On Monday, school board members directed the superintendent to request a waiver from the governor’s executive order.
If the waiver is approved, classes would begin Aug. 28, 2017, the Monday before Labor Day and the last day of school for students would be June 14, 2018, according to Board member Rebecca Smondrowski (District 2)...
MCPS is replacing finals with quarterly exams. That would put several days back into the instructional calendar, right? So what's all the complaining about starting school a week later?
ReplyDeleteActually, no. The number of days is a wash, but the RQA's interrupt the flow of instruction during the quarter since the they have to be given on a specific schedule. Each quarterly assessment takes 1-2 class periods twice a semester (= up to 4 class periods). 8 period day, 2 exams per day (2 class periods periods per day; ie period 1 and period 2) = 4 days.
DeleteI took the RQA and trust me its not that nice, it could drop a letter grade if you get a C or below. So whats the point of taking exams quarterly if it drops your grade. For example I use to get straight A's but thanks to the RQA I got three B's now.
ReplyDeleteThe point of RQA's is to test students on a quarterly basis, closer to when they learned the material, instead of just once near the end of the school year. From a teaching and assessment standpoint, the quarterly exams make more sense than semester exams.
DeleteIf you're having a hard time with RQA's and the material is only 9 weeks old or newer, perhaps more studying, both before the exams and throughout the marking period preceding the tests, would do the trick.
If the RQA's have material on them that you haven't been given, that's another story - but I'm not hearing that complaint from my high-schooler, FWIW.