The district has changed the way students are assessed for annual midterms and finals, and most students interviewed by The Rostrum supported the decision.

The school is not holding formal midterms this year. Students have had early dismissal this week, the days midterms were supposed to be held. Teachers are using this time to examine student growth data, and create final assessments for the spring.

The district has also changed how finals will be graded. Students will still have a final assessment, but it will be part of their fourth marking-period grade, as opposed to a separate grade, as in past years.

Acting Principal Dana Paredes said the changes will improve the way students are assessed.

“As a district we are looking at the use of authentic assessments to evaluate what a student has learned,” Ms. Paredes said. “In the long term, there is little value to multiple-choice questions and fill-in-the-blank answers. True learning has occurred when you are able to apply what you have learned, and that is what we are aiming for.”

Senior Arianna Bowman said the changes will be beneficial to average students. She said that sometimes when a student fails finals and has a bad class grade they will have to stay back. Instead all you would need to do is classwork and receive a good grade.

Bowman said she heard several teachers say they don’t like the changes to midterms and finals. These teachers thought those tests were good practice for college. Bowman wasn’t convinced.

“Get over it for teachers,” she said.

Daniella Occhineri has mixed feelings on the changes because there’s no studying and that means less stress.  However there is a downside since the tests helps prepare students for the future in college.

Junior Kira Dawson doesn’t think midterms really matter since they’re only a little of what the students learned, but finals matter more because it’s what we learned for the whole school year.

“It’ll be more stress to the underclassmen, but it also helps prepare them for the SATs,” Dawson said.