Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Class 6: Ready to Shred?

Mammoth Mountain
Well all right. . .we are officially closer to the end of the course than the beginning.  While we (and by "we" I mean "you") still have quite a bit to complete, you are definitely on the home stretch.  You should have plenty of work to keep you busy in class for the duration of the course.  I will continue to introduce material each class, but the number is definitely diminishing.

Tonight, I have only a few new items. . .How to create your Prezi assessment on Google Forms and a discussion on how to get your work onto your blog, the Emerging Technology assignment.  From this point forward, you need to keep a small part of your consciousness thinking about your NETS-T narratives. Remind me to discuss how to decide which assignment will cover the remaining NETS-T.  I will give you feedback on your collaborative narratives by Monday.  I hope to have them completed and turned to black by Wednesday, August 1.  We will also discuss how to begin to create your Symbaloo Webmix TPE 14 portfolio and take a closer look at the Adaptive Technology assignment (Journal 8).
Don't forget to come to class early if you are going to participate in the #ntchat @ 5pm.  It would make it a lot easier to complete the PLN assignment if you can get the educational chat completed early.


Today's Question: Do you believe a high school exit exam should be required to graduate from high school?  Why or why not? Explain.

30 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. No. It could be argued that the purpose of high school is to get a student properly prepared for their future. I believe that the future test of life is is a good enough test for the graduating student, and any other test distracts from that. A high school exit exam simply creates an artificial short-sighted goal where students waste applied time/effort. Consequently students focus on something that is not the actual purpose of education. Example if the only requirement to get into the NBA was to make ten free throws in a row, people would spend a lot of time passing that test. However that test is a poor indicator of how good they will actually be in the NBA, because the NBA is more than free throws. It is passing, teamwork, dribbling, etc. Furthermore all the high school completion test does is allow for a diploma/certificate which documents to employers/upper education a (theoretical) level of competency by the student. The only reason employers/upper education want this is because they do not want the responsibility of judgment for their own candidates. Overall this is a very inefficient system.

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    1. What should we do instead? We have been graduating students who can't read and write for a long time. At least it's something (though imperfect) to show that they could read and do simple arithmetic.

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  3. I don't think a high school exit exam is necessary to earn a valid high school diploma. It seems our nation is too focused on test scores and not enough on experiential learning. It is more important for a high school student develop social and moral skills to be a high-functioning member of society, rather than good at taking at tests.

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  4. Yes, at least we have a standard (6th grade) instead of what we did before where we just graduated them because they turned 18 and need to move on. It is an imperfect system but at least we hold them accountable. One of my students, who was born and raised here, turned 22 before he passed the English portion of the exam.

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  5. Although I am not a teacher yet, I worked in a classroom with Spanish students (3 different classes) for the last 6 months. Not only do these tests interrupt the curriculum (trying to get them on the path to finals) but the teacher felt she had to cater a few of her precious face time hours trying to get the students prepared for these tests so that the school would score high. I think standardized testing as a whole is ridiculous. It is a waste of time, and says nothing about their intelligence. My best example as a student now would be the CSET exams. I really feel that 10 years of studying Spanish is a really difficult thing to try to pack into a test that is 35 questions. I have studied 1300 years of Spanish history, and how could I possibly know what they were going to test me on? I feel like the high school exit exams are the same. It honestly makes a mockery of my intelligence, but still manages to make me cry and stress out over a necessary evil.

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  6. I think more concentration should be put on passing the SAT/ACT so that they can go to college. At my high school we were expected to take them. If you can do well on those what is the point to another exam.

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  7. I feel the exit exam should not be the basis of graduating. It can tell a school how they are doing, but there is so much more that goes into graduating I dont understand the reasoning of basing it off a test. Some are bad test takers, or could of had an off day.

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  8. No, I don't believe an exit exam is necessary in many situations. If a student has received quality counseling as he or she chooses a high school program of study and then passed the individual classes that constitute his/her program, then the student should be qualified to graduate without taking a redundant exit exam. In the past our school has required seniors to construct a portfolio containing work from their high school years plus one senior exhibition project. They prepare and then go before a panel of teachers, parents and community members to present the portfolio and explain why they feel qualified to graduate. Panel members are allowed to ask questions and then each one evaluates the senior in several areas. This has been a helpful preparatory experience for the seniors while providing good feedback for the school.

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  9. No, I think graduation should be about the moral and social developments a student has made throughout the years instead of how good they are at taking tests.

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  10. No, I think there is already enough testing going on. This test only adds more stress to students, and I feel that schools can have other requirements rather than passing a test that can be important to students. High school exit exam is the same as passing classes I feel.

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  11. I don't think those really work anymore. Kids are at such different levels now when they are graduating. For example, a kid that has finished calculus is on such a different level then someone who has finished basic geometry. Plus some kids just don't test that well, and I don't think they should not be able to graduate high school.

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  12. I feel that the high school exit exam gives a false pretense to students that once they have completed the "exit exam" they are DONE. If you pass it the first time, you are a Sophomore in the Fall semester. It should really be called the "did you learn anything in 8th grade exit exam"

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  13. There are a lot of factors that go into student success and I don't think that all students should be expected to perform on high pressure, standardized tests. I think that their performance in a class or group of classes can prove that they deserve a diploma.

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  14. I don't believe it should be. The Exam like most tests is less a measure of what one has learned and more of what one remembers. Also, some people are just not good at tests why penalize them for it.

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  15. I do not believe a high school exit exam should be necessary in order to determine if a student should graduate or not. I believe a students aptitude should be based on the school work he or she have done and the grades they have received. This allows for more opportunities for a student to show how much they have learned. I think an exit exam places to much importance on just one test.

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  16. I believe that students should have to pass the exit exam in order to graduate. I seem to be the minority with this stance, but I think that students should be required to demonstrate some basic knowledge that justifies them attending high school for 4 years. Let's be honest: the exit exam was pretty easy. If a student can't pass the exit exam and he/she doesn't have a learning disability or other factor, then that student probably wouldn't survive in the adult world. You NEED to be able to read, write, and perform basic math to get virtually any job in this world.

    Now, is the exit exam the best test for testing basic knowledge? I don't know because that exam is a blur (as it should be, we've had hundreds and hundreds of exams in our life). We could look to redesigning the test if need be but I would still argue that there SHOULD BE some sort of test required to potentially leave school forever.

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  17. I think it is easy to look at the CAHSEE and find lots of problems with it, and there definitely are, but I do think there needs to be some way of ensuring students are learning what they need to be learning. So I guess I don't think there should be a test like the CAHSEE but I do think we need to find some way of ensuring a quality education before students graduate.

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  18. I do not believe the HSEE should be necessary to graduate, mostly due to the fact that it does not give an accurate representation of whether or not the student understands the material. For instance, ELL students may not be able to comprehend the testing material, and therefore may not perform as well on the test. Other students simply do not test well.

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  19. I do not think that the exit exam should be a graduation requirement. I believe students' are assessed on what they have done throughout their high school experience and their eligibility to graduate should not depend on a single test.

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  20. I do not believe high schools should have an exit exam. Students all have different strengths and weaknesses. Not everybody is going to be a scientist or doctor, and I don't think exit exams are an accurate representation if a student is ready for the "real world." Some students are better at taking tests than others and I do not think one test should determine if a student moves on or not. These tests don't take into consideration if a student excels in other traits, such as leadership qualities, that the exam cannot test for.

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  21. The high school exit exam(HSEE) should be a requirement upon graduation. If a student cannot pass the exam at the level it is at, then they should be take more courses to pass. I understand not all students perform the same to pass exams like the HSEE. However, the exam is not a prestigious exam and all students should be able to pass basic performance skills. Also, if students were not required to pass the exam because of performance exceptions, many other students would default, due to out of lack of ambition, and not pass the test.

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  22. In order to ensure that we do not have illiterate students who fell through cracks or got pushed throw the system graduating high school, I think a exit exam should be required of high school students.

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  23. I dont know if i think it is needed but its not that bad of a test. Most students that will be graduating high school can pass the test.

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  24. I do believe high schools should have an exit exam. There should be some representation of what students have learned.Although students have different strengths and weaknesses they should have a basic understanding of subjects.

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  25. I believe an assessment is necessary for graduation, but I do not think standardized tests are the answers. I remember taking the CAHSEE, and thinking it was really easy, but I also remember groups fighting the test because of cultural and language problems. After doing a lot of research over the years on exit exams, I realize there is a need for some sort of assessment because so many students are passing grades without adequate reading and writing skills.

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  26. I do not think that high schools should have exit exams because all students harbor different skills and strengths. Just like Gardner stated, there are multiple intelligences and people portray them in different ways. Intelligence is diverse and different among everybody, and an exit exam is not the proper measure of intelligence in my opinion.

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  27. I definitely believe that high school students should take the high school exit exam to finish school. It is a basic judgment of one's knowledge, and it wasn't extremely difficult. I was first given the exam junior year, and I know students are given multiple chances to fulfill the requirements. It's a basic test that many are given. If people have been able to pass it in the past, people should also be able to pass it in the future.

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  28. I have always been a horrible test taker and though I have graduated from HS at the top of my class, graduated from college I still must jump through hoops, taking tests. Thus proving that I am smart enough to go on and teach others. (that's funny) With testing like the exit exam I feel they put more stress and focus on these basic areas. For someone who is extraordinary at other areas are forced to feel invaluable and lost within our school systems. I think the next time someone graduates from High School or College we should ask them to tell us what they have learned and not test them on what we think they should have learned.

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  29. I believe that after each course, a student should take an "exit exam" in high school, and then near the end of high school a cumulative exam should be given, and averaged with the course exams. I don't know... Just an idea?!! I don't actually think there is a perfect answer/solution.
    ...

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