Middle school students face changes on semester exams

One test can now swing the semester grades for some Clark County School District middle school students as much as two letters.

While end-of-semester tests last year were 10 percent of students’ grades, they now count for 20 percent at some schools.

That’s because school district officials left the decision to increase the stakes up to each school, said Deputy Super­intendent Pedro Martinez.

“We’re hearing that our kids, frankly, aren’t taking the exams seriously” and therefore aren’t prepared for high school because they haven’t mastered the material, he said.

But principals are far from united on whether to up the ante on semester exams, according to a survey this summer. About 49 percent said not to change a thing, while 51 percent supported increasing the test’s impact to 20 percent of students’ grades. For that reason, it’s a choice, not a mandate, said Sue Daellenbach, the district’s assistant super­intendent of assessment, accountability, research and school improvement.

How many middle schools made the change isn’t known, she said. The district isn’t tracking which schools increased the testing stakes.

Every teacher has a strong opinion, one way or the other, said Mary Hafner, principal of Martin Middle School, near Eastern and Stewart avenues. Martin is keeping the tests’ value at 10 percent, but teachers are “very divided,” she said.

Those teaching upper-level classes, such as honors algebra and geometry, want it at 20 percent because those essentially are high school classes. And the tests’ value is 20 percent in high school. Students need to master the concepts to graduate.

But the fear at the middle school level is that struggling students who have worked hard for 18 weeks to catch up or keep up would be destroyed rather than brought up because of one test .

The schools keeping semester exam values at 10 percent appear to be those with high percentages of at-risk students, such as English language learners or those living in poverty. Schools bumping up the value of semester finals include already high-performing schools.

Almost half of Orr Middle School’s students speak English as a second language. “And the teachers all agree — 10 percent,” said George Leavens, principal of Orr, near Maryland Parkway and Twain Avenue.

If a student who “worked his butt off” to get a B for the semester bombs the test, he is down to a D just because of one bad day. And students at Orr have their bad days, said seventh-grade math teacher Kim Senatore.

“Kids are up to 3 a.m. because of fighting parents, mom is arrested, or parents drag them out playing bingo all night,” she said. “I’m not going to zing them that hard.”

Quizzes and chapter tests already account for 45 percent of her students’ grades, with class work making up 35 percent, and homework and participation counting for 10 percent each.

Most middle school students aren’t thinking ahead, calculating their minimum test score to get the grade they want, said Ann Brown, principal of Fremont Middle School, near St. Louis Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

“They just take the tests,” she said, while “high schoolers have their calculators out. They’re much more savvy.”

Fremont has high student transiency, and many students aren’t around a whole semester to master the material. The thought behind the change to 20 percent is that it will give students a chance to catch up by mastering the material by semester’s end. But it would have the reverse impact at Fremont, Brown said.

“It’s always nice to be given the choice. We’re all very different,” she said.

Schools used to have the choice, but the district mandated two years ago that everyone weight semester exams at 10 percent of students’ grades, said Keith Wipperman, principal of Leavitt Middle School, near Lone Mountain Road and Buffalo Drive.

“We’re going back to what it used to be,” Wipperman said. Leavitt’s semester tests now have a 20 percent impact on student grades.

He said semester exams should have a significant impact, because students are going to be held to higher standards in high school. If they don’t pass one test in math, one in reading, and one in science, they can’t graduate, he said, referring to the state’s High School Proficiency Exams. Only half of Clark County’s students pass them on their first try.

Getting them there starts in middle school, Wipperman said, adding, “This gives the kids a chance.”

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at
tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.