Hoke County students and public school students across the United States won’t be exempt from end-of-grade and end-of-course testing for this school year, and that testing will have to be done in person, according to Hoke County Schools.
In the spring, the U.S. Department of Education granted a waiver that allowed schools to cancel the end-of-year testing due to COVID-19 related school closures. However, recently U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos shared that there won’t be a waiver from testing for this school year, Hoke Schools said in a press release.
“Students who are receiving instruction are expected to participate in all North Carolina state assessments (EOCs, EOGs, ACT, and WorkKeys). As a reminder, North Carolina does not allow students to opt out of required testing unless there are extenuating circumstances,” the school system said in the press statement. “As mandated by the North Carolina Department of Instruction, students are required to take all state assessments in a face-to-face (in person) setting in the school building. Our students who are receiving instruction remotely will go to their schools to take these tests.”
Unless there are changes to the requirements at a federal or state level, families should begin to plan for having their child come to campus to take their end-of-grade or end-of-course exams.
The school system is preparing to make the testing environment as safe as possible for students, officials said in a statement. The schools plan to promote social distancing, take student and staff temperatures before they enter the building, require masks at all times for students and staff and limit classroom capacity to a maximum of 15 students in a testing room.
School buildings will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before students return to school the next day, and transportation, as well as breakfast and lunch will be provided for all students.
Grading will be back to the norm as well, school officials announced.
“As you may recall, during the spring semester of last year, students received either a grade of PC19 or WC19 due to school closures. This year, students will earn the traditional numerical grade of the North Carolina 10-point grading scale,” Hoke Schools said in a statement.
An A is 100-90, B is 80-89, C is 70-79, D is 60-69, and F is below 60. If a student doesn’t participate in the final exam, the student will receive an incomplete for the entire class until they take the final exam. If they don’t make up the final test, they’ll get a grade of 0 for it for their final grade, school officials said.
“This is extremely important as final grades impact student’s grade point average, scholarship opportunities, as well as college admissions,” the statement said.
“Hoke County High School and SandHoke Early College will conduct state testing and final exam testing in December. All final exam test grades will be included in the student’s final grade and will count as twenty five percent (25%) of the final grade. All students are expected to participate in all testing, including all state assessments, during the designated window.”
Students who miss testing will be allowed to make up the test session. The deadline to make up the work is February 19, 2021.
The test schedules are as follows, provided by the school system:
Hoke County High School: All Teacher Made Tests will be administered during the dates of December 7 – 10. Hoke Online students will take their teacher made tests remotely. Students who attend school on either A or B days will take their tests at school.
Career and Technical Education (CTE) Tests will be administered in the following order: December 14, will be first and second period tests and December 15, will be third and fourth period tests. All students are required to take these tests face-to-face on campus.
EOC state tests will be administered in the following order: December 16, will be Math 1 and Math 3; December 17, will be Biology; December 18, will be English 2. All students are required to take these tests face-to-face on campus.
SandHoke Early College:
All Teacher Made Tests will be administered in the following order: December 14, 2020, will be first and second period tests and December 15, 2020, will be third and fourth period tests. Hoke Online students will take their teacher made tests remotely. Students who attend school on either A or B days will take their tests at school.
EOC state tests will be administered in the following order: December 16, 2020, will be Math 1 and Math 3; December 17, 2020, will be Biology; December 18, 2020, will be English 2. All students are required to take these tests face-to-face on campus.
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