After discovering that all students enrolled in Honors level English I-IV or AP Literature would be tested on the summer reading the second week of school, some students were taken aback. Each grade level was assigned a day on which they would take the test, and the testing for all students enrolled in the spring semester took place during plus one in the cafeteria, while fall students completed the tests in their classrooms.
“I first found out about the new testing on Twitter,” senior Mckenzie Johnson said. “I was very surprised; it was the day before school.”
Riley Shaner, a sophomore currently taking her Honors English II class, mentioned when she first heard about the testing.
“I found out on the first day of school; the teacher told my class about it,” Shaner said. “It didn’t really change much for me, because I am currently taking the class, but the time limit was a little scary.”
Kathleen Greenlee, who is currently teaching two sections of Honors English III and one section of standard English III, discussed the difficulty of making sure everyone knew about the testing that would occur.
“Just the coordinating of it and trying to get the word out was pretty tricky,” Greenlee said. “We tried to cover as many bases as we could with that, like using the Sunday night call home, the website, saying things at the class assemblies and putting up fliers, and that was the trickiest part I think.”
Johnson, currently taking Honors English IV in the fall semester, shared her opinion about the new decision.
“I don’t think it is really necessary, because the only way that you should be tested on a book is if you work with the text,” Johnson said. “If you don’t, then how do you expect to understand it completely?”
However, many other students view the new testing method with a positive perspective.
“I think it is a better idea than the method [the English department] was doing the year before,” Shaner said. “It was unfair to the people in the second semester; they lost the information after time.”
Senior Darcy McGregor, enrolled in Honors English IV in the spring semester, pondered the motives behind the change.
“I think they wanted to prevent procrastination among the students, whereas if they did not read the third book they did not have to do a dialectical journal until the spring,” McGregor said. “I think they were trying to create equality among both classes so that no one was at an unfair advantage.”
Ashlyn Smith, a freshman enrolled in Honors English I in the fall semester, agreed with McGregor.
“I understood why [the English teachers] were doing it: so that it didn’t give the people in the second semester extra time,” Smith said.
Greenlee talked about how the idea came to surface.
“It was a corporate idea, because we’ve had a lot of complaints from students about the equity of testing in the fall versus the spring,” Greenlee said. “A lot of kids forget some stuff between fall and spring, so we thought it would put everybody on a more level playing field coming into the school year.”
McGregor discussed how the decision helps and hinders her at the same time.
“I guess in a way it does allow me to take the test with the material fresher in mind, however it also adds more to my plate than other students who are taking it in the fall,” McGregor said. “[Some classes] are already reviewing it and preparing for it in class, whereas I have to take extra time to prepare for myself.”
Greenlee mentioned that the new testing might not be a permanent alteration.
“Of course, this is a test pilot year, so we’ll see how it goes,” Greenlee said. “So far it has seemed to have gone smoothly, but [the English department] will get our heads together after this year and see how it’s gone and decide if we want to continue moving forward.”
– By Briana Stone
