This year’s first semester Math 3 students (honors and academic) will be the first to take the Math 3 end of course EOC. All guardians of a Math 3 student received a letter regarding the final from Wake County Public Schools.
There will be a delay in returning test scores and because of the delay, the EOC will not be counted towards students’ grades. Typically, when a course has a final, each semester is worth 40% of a grade and the final being worth 20%. For Math 3, each semester will be worth 50%.
Stated in the letter distributed to Math 3 students, “When a new assessment is developed and administered, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction collects all raw scores for the assessment from across the state and undergoes a norming process to develop the curve used to calculate scores based on a 100-point scale.”
A majority of students are grateful that their Math 3 final will not be counted towards their final grade. “It’s cool they have to test it [the assessment] out on some people… I’m not going to stress about it because it’s not going on our final grade,” said Julius Rice.
However, the EOC raises some concerns that it will actually hurt student’s grades. The 20% that a final is worth could raise a student’s grade that small percentage they need to get their B to an A, their C to a B, etc. Now that the Math 3 EOC will not count towards their grade, there is no final that could boost their final grade up to the next letter.
Although the test scores do not count towards a student’s final grade; the school and teachers will be evaluated with the test scores. The results will also be accessible to all colleges/universities, just like any other high school final. When asked Zoë Bennett–a sophomore at Leesville Road High–was asked if she planned on giving the assessment her best effort Bennet responded, “Yes, because you have to try on all your tests because it will probably show up somewhere… then that gives bad results for your like class as a whole [if you don’t give your best effort].”
Many students have come to the conclusion that the test isn’t worth their time and effort since it won’t affect their personal final grade. However, the evaluation of the school’s teaching ability will be determined by their efforts.
Hi! My name is Asis, and I am the social media editor for The Mycenaean. I am a member of National French Honor Society, the French Club treasurer, a swimmer, and a camp counselor at Brier Creek Community Center. My favorite book is Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Also, I like J. Cole and H.E.R.
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