It's He-e-e-re
The faculty of SHS were given a decree handed down from high up in the district administration today, one that will change the school and eventually alter high school in the state of Georgia for good. End-of-Course Testing has arrived. No longer will teachers assess students' mastery of a course with their own, personally-made final exams. Instead, every student in the state will take the same, state-mandated test for each core course they take in High School.
So next week, we at SHS will begin the first wave of this end of course testing, and it's bound to rattle things up for the students here. The tests are administerd like a standardized test; not in the teacher's classroom during class time, but in a large setting such as the auditorium or gymnasium, where every kid taking, say, Algebra I, will take the test simultaneously. And the tests, multiple choice fill-in-the-bubble tests, are sent to the state for grading.
Certainly there are benefits and drawbacks to this radical new practice. A significant amount of teacher individuality and freedom is thrown out the window. For the test will govern what has to be covered during the semester. This raises quetions about what, exactly, will be selected to be included on the test for each course. Will a balanced amount of ethnically diverse literature be included in the literature tests? Which aspects of American History will be deemed most worthy of inclusion? Will the tests teach knowledge, or cognitive and academic skills? How will English Language Learners be affected? Will accommodations be afforded them?
Certainly there is something to be said for standards, and the accountability that will come with having a standardized end-of-course test, especially given the rampant accusations, or should I say assumptions, of grade inflation flying around the state, particularly around the issue of tightening the requirements for the HOPE scholarship.
And I think I would prefer end-of-course-testing to exit-exams like the Georgia Graduation Tests. Then the high stakes test is more directly attached to what the students are supposed to master in each course. Less likely to see a disparity between students' grades and their performance on that graduation test.
We're also told that the test will count for 20% of the students grade. And I think this will be calculated by the state. Teachers turn in their grade for the student, absent the end-of-course test, and then when the scores come in, they will be weighed in and the final grade recalculated.
This is a big issue. Sure to piss off a lot of veteran teachers. And I see a lot of drawbacks to it myself. I mean, it's not like there wasn't any accountability to what teachers were testing on before. We have always been required to submit copies of our exams to our administrators, which were to be included in our annual evaluations.
Then there is of course my old soap box. Every student has to look the same. No variety. No diversity. No accounting for different talents, multiple intelligences. What happened to good old American individuality? Teachers' creativity is being stifled and by consequence, the students'.
We'll see how this all turns out. I have yet to establish my position on this completely.
9:27:11 PM 
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