School Plunges Into Its First Fall Term Without Exams
By Eli August ‘08
News Associate Editor
The end of fall term at Choate will be markedly different from years past. Rather than cramming over two thousand tests into a four-day period, Choate will instead be without final exams prior to Thanksgiving break. The decision, which is currently only ensured for this fall, will hopefully allow teachers to examine new modes of summative assessment while relieving the pressures formerly placed on students by fall exams.
Dean of Academic Affairs Mrs. Kathleen Wallace initiated the idea. Prior to the Calendar Committee’s first meeting late last fall, Mrs. Wallace had already spoken with the Academic Council about eliminating fall exams. At the Calendar Committee meeting, Dean of Students Mr. John Ford brought up the issue of fall exams. According to Mrs. Wallace, the Calendar Committee discussed the matter and ultimately decided it was in favor of removing fall exams for the 2006-2007 school year. With the Calendar Committee’s support, Mrs. Wallace took this proposal to the other Senior Deans, Mr. Farrell and Mr. Ford, and to Headmaster Shanahan. They all supported the proposal.
The conclusion that fall exams should be eliminated for at least one year was a result of the increasing number of exams over the previous five years, and the chaos that came from squeezing more and more exams into the same restricted time period. Mrs. Wallace explained that the “fall term exam period last year was horrible and the year before wasn’t much better.” She underlined the fact that the number of exams administered by Choate in the fall had ballooned from approximately 1700 five years ago to over 2200 last year.
Other factors in increasing pressure during the exam period included “conflict” exams (when a student has been scheduled for two exams at once), untimed exams, and exams when a team is involved in post - season play.
Mrs. Wallace remarked that, “we were just giving more and more exams in a tighter time period and it was unreasonable for our students.” Realizing that certain students were taking five or six exams in only three days, Mrs. Wallace came to the conclusion that something must be changed.
In order to better understand the nature of assessments and exams at Choate, an Assessment Committee has been formed. According to Mrs. Wallace, this committee, which will be chaired by Ms. Monica St. James, will “look at the whole issue of assessments, and especially summative assessments.” The committee will consist of one member from each department, to include Ben Small (Science), Ellen Devine (English), Anne Armour (Language), Andrew Murgio (Math), Ralph Valentine (Arts), and Tom White (HPRSS).
The Assessment Committee will meet throughout the year, and will report to Mrs. Wallace in May. The current plan is for Mrs. Wallace to then take the Assessment Committee’s recommendations to the Academic Council, as well as to the Senior Deans and the faculty, before determining what course of action the school will take regarding future summative assessments.
Because the Calendar Committee determines the following year’s calendar between late fall and early winter, the changes enforced after considering the Assessment Committee’s recommendations will not be implemented until the 2008-2009 school year.
Although the Assessment Committee’s recommendations will likely not take effect until the year after next, a decision about next year’s fall term will be made in December. The Academic Council will observe the end-of-term period this fall, and, with the help of teacher feedback, a recommendation will be taken to the Calendar Committee.
Mrs. Wallace stressed that fall exams have not been eliminated forever. “We are going to examine the issue of final examinations. In all terms, we’re going to look at it thoughtfully and thoroughly, we’re going to see what we find out, and we’ll make recommendations for the future.”
The removal of fall exams this year will have varied effects on the teachers and curricula of each department.
English Department Head Mr. Cyrus Cook conceded that the change “has very little effect on the English Department.” Mr. Cook explained that the only English class that normally administered an exam in the fall was English 200, which had only a 90 minute exam.
The curricula of most English classes will not change from last year. Aside from eliminating the winter English 100 exam, Mr. Cook stated that “we don’t intend to make other changes for this year.”
The Arts Department is also generally unaffected. The only arts class that would normally administer a fall exam is AP Art History.
At its October 23 department meeting, HPRSS teachers discussed the elimination of fall exams, and examined what classes have the greatest need for these exams. Department Head Ms. Gwenith Heuss-Severance stated that for AP courses, a 2-hour fall term exam “gives the students some experience similar to what they will experience in the May AP exams.” She continued that for non-AP courses, however, a spring term exam appears to be a good solution for providing “a summative experience that requires student to take what they’ve learned throughout the year, and pull it together.”
Because of the linear nature of most of their classes, the Science and Math departments have relied more heavily on exams. Mr. Lawrence Stowe, Science Department Head, admitted that, “I think a number of us will miss having a fall exam as an opportunity for kids to review and synthesize what they have learned over the term.”
Although the Science Department would generally administer numerous fall exams, Mr. Stowe did not foresee the elimination of fall exams as having an effect on the curricula of Science classes in the winter and spring terms. “We are trying to keep the winter [and spring] exams manageable.” He continued to explain that the Science Department recently discussed shifting some fall exams to winter, and winter to spring, but he predicted that overall “the patterns will be fairly similar to what they were last year.”
The general sentiments in the Math Department reflect those in the sciences. Acting Department Head Mrs. Elisa Currie explained that “the Math Department is used to having exams and students are used to having that chance to prove their growth over the term.” She continued, however, that “it is important to not always do things one way because we’ve always done them that way…maybe there are other ways that we can achieve the same goals.”
In spite of the fact that some teachers may yearn for exams, others who have experience with exams recognize the importance of this experiment. Mr. David Quarfoot, who currently teaches classes such as BC Calculus and AP Computer Science, strongly supports the change. “I’m interested to see what happens when we don’t have [exams]…the biggest problem we have is student and faculty workload... This is a first step that attempts to[address] that a little.” He continued, “I am very much in support of trying this out.”
The effect that the elimination of fall exams will have on students is currently unknown. Ms. Amy Salot, Associate Dean of Students, believes that in terms of the dorms and the students, the longer Thanksgiving break and slightly shorter holiday break in the winter is “a good adjustment.”
Student sentiments are mixed. The prospect of not having exams presents possible pros and cons. Amy Gobel ’08 notes, “I feel that we’re just going to have more exams piled on in the winter and spring. I personally would prefer to have them more spread out.” She elaborated that for classes such as math, “I like to have exams to bring my grade up…even though it is an extra stress.”
