All students at Glen A. Wilson High School will partake in district testing (called S-Maps) in their English, Math and Science classes on Jan. 9.
According to principal Dr. Danielle Kenfield, the district tests serve to help monitor student progress as well as guide instructional decisions to prepare students for their next courses in English, Math and Science.
For Ivana Ahmed (12), she prefers the original bell schedule compared to the one for testing due to having more classes in a day compared to just three or four during testing.
“I prefer a normal schedule more, due to being able to have more classes in a day,” Ahmed explains. “However, I do appreciate the fact that block schedule allows us to learn more information in one sitting each class.”
Testing will occur daily next week mornings in period 4 classrooms, and accompanying testing is a special block schedule designed for the week.
Additionally, HLPUSD will no longer be using classroom laptops meaning that students will not have access to school laptop carts anymore. Students have to start bringing their own school-issued laptops to school for testing and their own devices from now on. That news was met with mixed reactions, with many disliking the move due to the inconveniences of having to carry around their own devices.
Grace Oishi (11) comments on the new update, remarking how she dislikes the new rules as she will now have to carry them around all the time and be responsible for them.
“They are very inconvenient to carry around,” Oishi remarks. “They can potentially bring more trouble in case students accidentally damage them.”
District testing is nothing new for Iris Chu (9) who is used to doing district testing.
“I think that district testing is not that bad. It is kind of boring when you have to stay quiet and wait for the other kids to finish taking their tests,” Chuu explains.
Testing will last all throughout next week, with students being able to expect a variety of changes in the classroom to be implemented.
