Some students in the Lenape Regional High School District may be happy they won’t have to take midterms and finals this school year, but some parents are not too happy with the decision.
A group of parents from Lenape High School attended last week’s board of education meeting to express their concern for the lack of midterms and finals at the schools this year.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Christine Dickson said she believed the lack of exams would negatively impact students when they head off to college.
“It helps them develop a skill set for college,” Dickson said.
Another parent, Leigh Ann Erlanger, said not holding exams was going to set students back in their college preparation.
“I think we’d be doing our students a disservice otherwise,” she said.
The district has undergone a large revision of its curriculum in recent years. As part of the changes, the district has looked at changing the way it approaches assessments. Dickson said she and other parents received an email in May detailing the change.
Dickson felt the changes could have been better communicated with parents. She received the email on May 23 on the Friday prior to Memorial Day.
“Communicating this subject in this manner is not optimal,” Dickson said.
Superintendent Carol Birnbohm said the district is in a planning year and plans to unveil new assessments for next year.
The new assessments will align with changes made in the district’s curriculum over the past five to six years. Birnbohm said the old assessments were still being used up until last year and didn’t align with what the students were learning. She said the new assessments will be better aligned to the new curriculum. The focus of the curriculum revolves around problem solving, critical thinking and applying the learning material to real life applications.
“Kids are going to have to prepare for this and have to be responsible for what they learn,” Birnbohm said.
Another problem the district had in the past was inconsistency between teachers and schools. The goal with the curriculum changes is to establish long-term learning goals so students across all four high schools are learning the same material in their respective classes.
The lack of midterms and finals this year coincides with the start of PARCC testing this year. Dickson felt the change was done to accommodate PARCC. She said the standardized test shouldn’t be a substitute for midterms and finals.
“To compare PARCC to midterms and finals is like comparing apples to oranges,” Dickson said.
Birnbohm said midterms and finals were not taken off the calendar because of PARCC.
“PARCC wasn’t the impetus for the elimination of midterms and finals,” Birnbohm said.
Birnbohm said the district will communicate further changes as more details are determined later this year. She also invited parents to call the district administration building with any questions about the changes.
