Quote:
Originally Posted by b1crunch
I've been going back and forth on whether or not I should respond to this topic, but here it goes...
I worked as a high school teacher in a rural Alberta district for 11 years until just recently. There has been a slow erosion over the last decade of the importance/value of the Diploma Exams. First, the government lifted the time constraints. Students used to be given a set amount of time to complete the test (say 2.5 hours). As a social studies teacher I can tell you that about 10%-15% of kids struggled to finish in this time. So the government, removed the time constraint and starting giving every student double time. So if they had 2.5 hours before, they now have 5 hours. Depending on the course, some Diploma Exams provide students with 6 hours. Next, the government lowered the grade value of the Diploma Exams from 50% to 30%. This put a much higher value on the course work.
I taught when it was 2.5 hours and 50% and I taught when it was 5 hours and 30%. Overall, I can tell you that I have not worked with or talked to a teacher that supported the changes. These moves were likely done in the name of reducing stress for students, but it has generally lessened the stress to such a level that many of my students don't even care about the Diploma. A few years ago, before the changes I would almost always see students give an honest effort in the course at the end to ensure success on the Diploma. This meant that students who struggled with school would buckle down for the last 2 weeks and give it their all. In my 22 semesters as a Grade 12 teacher, I never saw a student fail because the Diploma brought them down. It was always the other way around. I saw kids with 45% get 55% on the Diploma and pass.
This devaluing of the Diploma has created a system where kids figure out that they only need to get a 60% in the class to ensure they pass overall. I've now had kids ask me when they have a decent mark in the class if they even need to write the Diploma.
It's frustrating because my district places a huge amount of importance on the Diploma Exam. For instance, we (teachers) are generally expected to have our class marks (the one I give the kids) be within a range of 5% of their Diploma Exam mark. This was the goal, to ensure teachers weren't inflating marks. This was very easy to achieve before the government instituted the changes. I could usually tell you with very good accuracy what a kid was going to get on the Diploma.
Now it's a crap shoot. I have kids who get 80% in the class get a 30% on the Diploma, and it makes me look like a terrible teacher. The reality is, the kid knew he didn't need to try or get a good mark so he decided to just phone it in.
In a perfect world I'd rather see the more high stakes version of the Diploma Exam stay for the academic (-1) classes, because this will likely be a better standard for students who want to go on to Uni. Alternatively, I could support a lesser stakers version of the Diploma Exam for students in the non-academic (-2) classes since they are more likely enter the workforce, get a trade, etc.
I don't know the perfect outcome, but what I witnessed was a complete shift in the importance of the Diploma Exams to the point that they are now viewed as a joke by many of the students. We have students in my school who sit there for the full 5-6 hours. Some fall asleep, some day dream. Alternatively, some finish the test as quick as they can and just choose "C" the whole way down the scan sheet.
I often feel now, that I stress WAY more about the Diploma than the students do. Because I'm going to be judged by these results, regardless of if that's valuable or not.
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It's been 20 years since I wrote 50% diplomas and I loved them. All that perceived teacher favoritism, nuances in marking standards between different teachers, students cheating on assignments, students cheating on exams, forgetting assignments at home, not realizing you didn't understand the coursework after failing a unit exam, etc. None of the matters when you have a diploma at 50%. It was the great equalizer. It was also a massive stress reducer because you always had this opportunity at redemption. You can go into a diploma with 70%, and still get 85% as a final grade.
And it was the first lesson in the importance of peak performance and applying the athlete mindset to important tasks, which is an imperative life skill to learn if you plan on going anywhere in life.