In response to last year’s online learning, Principal Eric Juli suggested that the amount of formal tests or quizzes be reduced.  In most classes, teachers replaced tests with projects to measure student’s learning.

Many aspects of virtual learning will carry on into in-person learning, such as teachers incorporating more online assignments into their curriculum and the high school adopting the block schedule. The decreased amount of traditional testing seems to be following the same trend. 

During online learning, it was difficult for students to learn all of the material usually taught in a normal year, as well as for teachers to get through the required material. This reduced the need for formal tests or quizzes in some cases.      

Principal Eric Juli said that he believes that testing, although necessary in some circumstances, is not always a fair representation of what a student has learned. Although students can memorize the content of a class, that may not mean that they can apply the information in the real world according to Juli. 

“Plenty of students know how to cram for a test, they get the answers right and if you gave them the same test a week later or a month later or a year later, they’re failing the test. They didn’t actually learn it,” Juli said. 

For AP or IB classes, tests and quizzes will still happen, as students need practice for their AP and IB exams at the end of the year.  For these classes,  testing and quizzes are necessary to prepare students for their exams, according to Juli. 

“It’s harder in some cases, so we know here that giving tests equals a very high success rate on AP tests, that’s fact. We have great AP scores here. What we’ve done really works, but does not mean that something else couldn’t work also,” Juli said. 

This suggestion will continue this school year, as finals are now optional for teachers and finals week will not occur this year. 

He explained that due to the new block schedule, there is not a need for a finals week. If teachers choose to give their students an exam, they will complete it during the block period. 

“I think that it takes away from class time having a formal exam week. We’ve gone to a block schedule and I’ve changed the calendar so that the first semester ends the day we leave for winter break, so this is a way to give weeks back to teachers and students, where there can be time for learning,” said Juli. 

 Juli said, “This isn’t a new idea, what’s new is I’m saying ‘let’s do more of this stuff’ and I want us to do even more of it.” 

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