Photo Credit: KAYLEE OBERFIELD
BY DANIEL LIEBOWITZ
Cooper City High School is implementing a new EOC (End-of-Course) Exam Testing Schedule for the 2013-2014 school year, devoting four consecutive Tuesdays from April 22 to May 12 to testing, each with a different EOC exam.
This schedule is replacing the one used last year where an entire week was devoted to just EOC testing. In order, the EOCs will be US History, Biology, Algebra 1, and Geometry this year. The testing will be divided into two sessions, with a morning session held from 7:30 AM to 11:15 AM and an afternoon session from 11:15 AM to 2:30 PM.
If a student is not taking an EOC test, they may opt to stay home or take enhancement activities such as AP practice exams, EOC practice for upcoming EOCs, practice ACT exams, or practice FCAT. These improvement activities will only be available during the morning sessions.
“I think these review sessions will really help kids,” AP Calculus and Algebra 1 teacher Michelle Harding said. “Last week, we got a lot of work done in the first three hours, but the last hour we didn’t get much work done, which was probably because the kids were not used to being in one class for such a long time.”
Overall, most are in favor of this change. Teachers enjoy that students gain four extra hours of uninterrupted review time, and only consist of students who want to be there. However, a lot of students are seeing it as a day off and choose to not augment their skills in preparation for the AP and EOC exams.
“As a teacher, I love having four hours of review with no interruptions,” Harding said. “Only students who want to review show up, so there’s less off-task behavior.”
