In the next couple of weeks, schools in the Wentzville School District will begin to take the EOC exams, or End of Course exams. Students will take these exams for Algebra I, Biology, U.S. Government, and English II, counting as a final grade (15% in the gradebook).
Dr. Edgar Nelson and many teachers put a lot of stress on the EOC’s, leaving students wondering, what are EOC’s, and why are they so important?
Dr. Lindsay Kiely, one of the assistant principals, says EOC’s are done “to measure students’ understanding of subject content and skills taught throughout the course.”
But this answer still leaves questions, where do the test results go? What is the purpose of taking these tests besides measuring proficiency
“Test results are reported to DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) and each individual school/district. Teachers receive results about five days after the testing window closes and a sliding scale to use when assigning a final exam grade for each student based on their EOC test results,” Kiely said.
While there isn’t a clear answer to what these results go to, according to everythingpolicy,org, “The goal is to identify which schools or teachers are especially effective in helping students learn. These results can be used to identify effective teaching techniques and learning environments that can be transferred to other schools. The other goal is incentivizing teachers and administrators to teach well, especially if school funding and teacher pay are tied to test results.”
In summary, the EOC’s tell administrators what content needs to be focused on, and they can be used to provide funding to schools, though that isn’t guaranteed.
Everythingpolicy,org explains the process as:
“At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Education collects standardized test data and gives each state a ‘report card’ on the academic performance of local schools. Congress mandates that this report card be issued every two years for each state. The state governments each choose the specific assessment to be administered in reading, math, and science, meaning that the standardized tests used in a particular year vary across states. Local school districts must administer these tests to receive federal education funding. The results of these tests are aggregated into a “state report card” by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Underperforming schools can lose some federal education funding.”
So it isn’t 100% known what our EOC’s go to, but it’s certain that they will be used to assess our school, and could provide us better opportunities in the future.
Good luck to those taking an EOC!
