Waterloo Public & Catholic boards cancel secondary school exams for all quadmesters
Posted Oct 20, 2020 08:00:00 PM.
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It may sound like a poor excuse made by a desperate student – but it’s not – as both the Waterloo Region District School Board and Catholic District School Board have made the decision to cancel secondary school exams for all quadmesters.
Discussed during the public board’s committee of the whole meeting on Monday, a change from the Ministry of Education has allowed boards to assess students fully on their term mark for the 2020-2021 school year, as opposed to a previous weighting of 70% term mark and 30% summative mark. While the public board’s first quadmester had already designated three days in November – the 11th to 13th – for exam days, the board will now be treating those as instructional days.
“… we brought together folks to review whether that is something we want to continue to do (…) and we’ve decided to not have formal final exams in our secondary schools.” said WRDSB Board Area 1 Superintendent Rob DeBoer. “… our staff is currently working on plans around that – in terms of assessment plans…”
According to information sent to 570 NEWS from the WRDSB, those instructional days will be used to support secondary students in completing course work and consolidating their learning. Students participating in in-person learning will not attend school on those previously designated exam days, instead working remotely with teachers available for remote support.
The public board has also confirmed that there will be no final exams in the Distance Learning Program.
Further details from the Waterloo Region District School board regarding these changes will be made available to the public in the coming days.
Meanwhile, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board will also not be requiring formal final exams – instead, students will be required to complete end of quadmester assessments remotely. Those assessments may include culminating activities, portfolios, interviews, take-home exams or essays. The grading from end of quadmester assessments will be calculated and added as part of a student’s overall term mark.
