“Are we going to have midterms this year?” This is the question that has been on many students’ minds ever since Ms. Giurlando was named Principal of Glen Rock Middle and High School. Recently, as a feature for the Glen Echo, Senior Nick Tufano interviewed her to get a grasp of some information about her and to understand her plans for this school year and the future.
One topic Tufano and Ms. Giurlando touched base on was the topic of midterms. As a student who tries vigorously to maintain academic excellence, I believe that midterms may properly prepare students for college, but it has a major drawback on students’ well-being and their mental health.
According to educatetree.com, there have been many observational studies conducted to find the best way to assess midterms. This source states that some teachers might assign midterms with a lower weight grade to properly feel that other types of assessment would better reflect a student’s understanding of the material. This source also states that if a student does poorly on a midterm, it could diminish their motivation in that class because of how much weight a midterm holds.
Since 2020, after the pandemic hit, Glen Rock High School has not conducted midterms. Instead of administering midterms, the high school now uses benchmarks, as a way to consider and reflect on the skills learned by the student. Benchmarks usually take the form of a lighter test than a midterm, an essay, or a project/classwork assignment.
As someone who has taken benchmarks but not midterms, I believe that while midterms could better prepare me for college, benchmarks leave a lot less stress for the student body as one bad day taking a midterm could essentially ruin a large percentage of your grade.
As a student, I do not want to see a bad grade in my grade book, thus resulting in me putting in extra work and time to study concepts at home. To me, having to memorize concepts from a while ago that may/may not be applicable to my life makes me wonder why I am studying so many concepts for a grade on a website.
Right now, I believe the best course of action would be to keep having periodic benchmarks to help students keep thinking, rather than cram information into their heads and take two weeks to study for a test that could potentially make or break their grade. Ultimately, what Glen Rock High School is currently doing is perfectly fine.
