As the semester moves along you may start to notice some subtle changes to your personality. . .maybe you are starting to look at cool things on web pages and think to yourself, "That's awesome! I think I could do that." Perhaps you are finding people with pocket protectors surprisingly suave. You have a sudden liking of argyle, penny loafers and sweater vests. Acronyms like HTML, JAVA, WWW and NETS are becoming sexy. You are now the person your family and friends come to for tech advice or assistance. . .Do any of these symptoms apply to you? If so, I'm afraid to tell you that you may be turning into a tech nerd . . .Not that there's anything wrong with that ;-) Well, okay, maybe it's not that bad, but you are all becoming amazingly techie–in a good way of course. I expect that your Prezis and GoogleForm assessments are complete and you are ready to present to your peers this evening. I will ensure that everyone can get the Prezi, the assessment, and the link to the assessment results on a page of your blog. You should also have completed your Diigo, School 2.0, and journal 1-5 assignments. I will get everything graded by class time next week.
You were also to have the rough draft of your NETS I collaborative narrative complete. Tonight, we will discuss how to leave comments for your peers and how to embed links to your assignments. I will introduce the Emerging Technology Rubric/assignment as well as the PLN assignment. That should be more than enough to keep everyone busy. And, oh yeah, Journals 6-10 also begin today.
This Week's Question: Let's talk education: Should high school exit exams be a requirement to graduate high school? Why or Why not?
I do believe that students should have to pass a basic high school exit exam because I believe there are some things that all people should be required to know, like who is the president, arithmetic, how to use apostrophes, how to tell the time, how many months are in a year, and other ridiculously easy things that we all take for granted that students know these things. I have met plenty of students that do not know these things. How can we expect students to succeed in keeping a job if they don't know how to do these basic things? A high school diploma should be proof that students have a basic amount of knowledge from schooling.
ReplyDeleteUm well I am not really sure what I think about the high school exit exam. Bit if I had to choose I think they should have to pass the exit exam. The exit exam is pretty basic and covers the main things that everyone should know. I know for my they dont really make you study or prepare you for the exit exam and most people dont have an issue passing. They make the exit exam very fair in the fact that if you do not pass they give you opportunities to pass and take it a few times. So yes I think every high school students needs to pass the exit exam to graduate high school!!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Allison and the fact that everyone graduating high school should know an amount of information. I believe it is a way to make sure that students are ready to graduate. It is a great way to show that they have an amount of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a pretty fair exam. I did not do well in high school at all, but I passed the high school exit exam without studying at all. Depending on the content of the tests, I think it is alright to have it required as an exit exam. It's definitely doable with the most basic academic knowledge, as proven by my passing the test even with a VERY low GPA =X
ReplyDeleteYes, in fact, I think the High School Exit Exam should be more difficult than it is now. So many students graduate high school with less than proficient understanding of many subjects and life skills. Making the test more difficult would of course put more pressure on the teachers, but in the long run it would mean that recent high school graduates are more prepared to take on the real world.
ReplyDeleteI went to a private Catholic high school, so I did not have to take the exit exams. I would not be a very good judge on the test itself. I can say that for me, testing is not a very good measure on ability or drive to receive an education. I did very well in my high school. I was a B student. I failed miserably at the SAT and ACTs, but I did extremely well as a student in the classroom. Its hard for me to understand how testing can determine the willingness to work hard for your education after high school. If a student can get the grades, why penalize them just because they were not able to pass a test? I never had to take the exit exam, so maybe I am missing something here...
ReplyDeleteI think the high school exit exam should be a requirement to graduate. Right now, it is definitely a passable test so I think it is fair to require it. And if I remember correctly, you take it sophmore year so if it is failed, they give you extra opportunities to pass it before you graduate. The classes are variable because of different teachers, so, having an official test that everyone must pass is more of an even requirement.
ReplyDeleteThe High School Exit Exam is a tricky subject. I am not a fan of standardized testing. I have gotten absolutely nothing out of it from the beginning of time...way back to STAR testing. I do believe that all students should be proficient in certain subjects. If the High School Exit Exam is the way that they've decided on proficiency in High School then I guess I support it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there should be some sort of assessment set in place to insure that students deserve to graduate. I do think that having a generalized test that might give certain students a disadvantage is unfair. Personally I had no problem passing the Exit Exam and thought it was quite easy.
ReplyDeleteI feel high school students should pass some sort of high school exit exam because every student should at least be capable of passing a basic test after so many years in an educational setting. I think it would help students to apply themselves more.
ReplyDeleteI went to a Charter school for my high school education and we were not required to take standardized tests. I had no real clue how to successfully take a test (and yes I think test taking a skill). Still, I passed the High School Exit Exam without studying for it. Overall, I think it is easy to pass without much effort. It should definitely be a requirement to graduate High School.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure. Its a touchy subject. While I think that it can be a good idea for most students, children with learning issues can have a difficult time with the exam.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the idea of a High School Exit Exam, I'm not quite sure if I agree with the way that it is implemented. The exam is taken during sophomore year of high school, which means that it does not cover most information taught throughout high school. I believe that most schools offer an adequate amount of breaks and snack before the test to get juices flowing. However, the test IS standardized, so.... basically there are a lot of things that could be changed...
ReplyDeleteOh the High School Exit Exam, should be for teachers. They should be graded on the truth. They should be the one's to determine if they would pass a student. The teacher should determine if that student is ready to graduate. Just a thought. I really would have to think about this. It's tough because some students have trouble testing, and others do well.
ReplyDeleteI think the high school exit exam is a good judge or standard for students to meet, so a diploma actually has some meaning to it. However, the high school exit exam prevented my sister who was in the Special Education program from ever receiving an actual diploma, only a certificate of completion. So all in all, I do NOT think the High School Exit Exam should be required because it prevents certain students from feeling the same sort of achievement as others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with having students take an exit exam. The standards that they have to meet through this test I think are basics and since high school is the last stage before getting out there into the real work, it is a good idea to assess students on basic knowledge. Although maybe have it be fit to their necessities and potential. We can't test all kids the same, if they have different needs then maybe there should be another option for those kids.
ReplyDeleteI definitely feel there should be high school exit exams. It is important to know that student's are well equipped with the knowledge for the real world. They should be prepared and capable of going to a College or University. A teacher would know whether or not their student is ready to graduate by knowing they have taught the curriculum efficiently.
ReplyDeleteNo, because then the focus is on students passing the exit exam instead of the focus being on learning. Students have to pass classes in order to move from grade to grade and to graduate. By doing the work to pass those classes, they proved their ability and proficiency with the material and subject matter. When you become more concerned with passing a particular test, the whole point of school changes.
ReplyDeleteYes it should be because some school's curriculum is harder than others and if there was a standard high school exit exam for every school then it ensures that every teacher teaches the correct information to their students. This way students have to obtain a certain amount of information that can be used for the future.
ReplyDelete