It’s going to be a wild week at Mercer Island High School, March 15, 16 and 17. While seniors will be presenting their culminating projects in 25-minute intervals between 8:15 and 9:30 a.m. each day in various classrooms throughout the school, all sophomores and some juniors and seniors will be taking the High School Proficiency Exams (HSPE) in reading and writing.
“You just make it all happen,” said Jennifer Wright, the director of learning and technology services of the crazy schedule.
High school students statewide will take the HSPE in reading and writing over the three days. The science HSPE will be given in April and for the first time is required for students in the classes of 2013 and beyond to pass.
The senior projects at MIHS cover a range of subjects as different as each student is as an individual. With scintillating subjects such as the Liberia Livestock Project, ballroom dancing, boxing, building a Fender Vibroloux, computer programming, a summer in China, family cooking and a poetry slam fundraiser, to name a few, these presentations are destined to be extremely informative.
Wright said the schedule works well because while seniors are presenting, the younger kids are testing.
The senior culminating projects consist of a written reflection about what the student learned while researching his or her subject. They must also submit a log of the hours they put into the project. They are expected to log 50 hours. The presentation should be 15 minutes, with visual aids, then another 10 minutes for questions and answers, Wright said.
The audience consists of ninth and eleventh grade students, parents and community members.
The biggest change in state testing this spring is the move to end-of-course exams in math, specifically in algebra 1 and geometry, or their integrated math equivalents. Under current law, students in the class of 2013 and beyond must pass both exams to be eligible to graduate.
The writing HSPE will be given on March 15 and 16, and the reading HSPE on March 17. The science exam is scheduled for April 12. The math end-of-course exams are given within the last three weeks of school.
For the past three years, students have been required to pass the reading and writing exams to be eligible for a diploma. This requirement remains for students through the class of 2012. For students in the class of 2013 and beyond, they must pass all four subjects (reading, writing, math and science) to graduate.
Although the state Legislature is debating changes to the math and science assessment requirements, State Superintendent Randy Dorn said students and schools should proceed as if the graduation laws will not change.
“We can’t assume any of the proposed math and science legislation will become law,” Dorn said. “But students should take the exams seriously and do their best to pass them.”
