By GENEVA HINKLE – News Writer
A new End-of-Course Test remediation system allows students to retake the assessment that accounts for 20 percent of their final class average.
The End-of-Course remediation system, implemented at Clarke Central High School in the spring of the 2011-12 school year, allows students who failed an EOCT the chance to retake it for a higher final class average.
“The purpose of the retest is for students to show that they’ve mastered the standards,” CCHS Assistant Principal Sheila Dunham said. “It just gives them one more opportunity.”
In order for a student to be eligible for a retake they must participate in remediation. This takes place primarily during Glad time, a 32-minute block where one designated teacher for each subject reviews material and enhances a student’s knowledge of the academic content.
“It’s good to always have a second chance, to learn what you missed and know what you need to work on for next time,” senior Tre Heard said.
With this opportunity to retake the EOCT comes an added responsibility on teachers who instruct these core subjects to produce new study materials.
“Material was presented to (the student over the course of the semester), but now we have to come up with extra preparation work to get them ready to take the End-of-Course Test,” math department teacher Rebecca Begnaud said. “So, more problems and more practice means a lot of extra work on the teachers.”
As well as producing new material, teachers such as social studies department teacher Steven Hinson also provide remediation sessions outside of Glad Time, in his case Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
“The (Saturday remediation) sessions have been really helpful,” Hinson said. “In the length of time that (the students and I) spend together, we can really get involved with covering a lot of things. I’ll start out with framework, and then it’s not uncommon for us to just divert from that.”
As there is additional responsibility on teachers, International Baccalaureate/Gifted Collaborator/Scheduler Dr. Meri Blackburn encourages students to stay motivated during Glad time.
“The remediation is an important piece and (the students) need to take it very seriously,” Blackburn said. “When they go to Glad Time, they need to study, focus and listen.”
However, there are different outcomes at stake when retaking the EOCT, depending on a student’s grade level.
Seniors and juniors can either pass every section of the Georgia High School Graduation Test or pass an EOCT that corresponds with each section prior to graduation. Following the graduation of the 2014 class, the GHSGT will no longer be administered.
“It’s a good thing to allow a retest,” Blackburn said. “For seniors, it’s giving them another step towards graduation.”
Freshmen and sophomores are no longer required to pass the GHSGT, but the EOCT still accounts for 20 percent of a student’s final average in the class.
“We did have, as a result of retaking this test last year, some kids who were able to take a failing grade in a course and have it convert into a passing grade,” CCHS Associate Principal Mary Thielman said. “We then had some other students who chose to take it and improve their score because it let them move up a letter grade, which ultimately improves their GPA.”
Despite the EOCT remediation program now being available, Dunham says students need to give their best effort on the initial test.
“I’m certainly not discouraging anyone from retesting, but I think that when (a student is) entrenched in a course for 87 minutes a day, they need to give (the EOCT) their best shot,” Dunham said. “When they remove themselves from the course for a month, they come back and only have 12 remediation sessions before taking the test again.”
While EOCT remediation may place extra duties on teachers, it provides an opportunity for remediation and improvement that was not offered in previous years.
“I think (EOCT remediation) is a very good thing,” science department teacher Dennis Humphrey said. “I think that here at Clarke Central, we go out of our way to make students aware that the opportunity is there and to support them.”
