Our school has been remote all year and is finally going back to ehybrid. Freshman and sophomores are so excited to get back in the building. A lot of seniors are checked out but what I’m also hearing is many kids don’t want to go in because it’s so much easier to cheat at home. That’s disgusting. Those kids will be up a creek when this is over and I sure hope so. When I told my son that he thought that was so dumb. He doesn’t want to go back yet because he’s worried about the other seniors who party but I think based on some of his classes and who will be back, he will ultimately return for certain days. Our school’s teachers are all vaccinated and unless they have an ADA accommodation are required to return. We’re essentially the last school to open in our area and there have been no outbreaks related to schools all year here.
I work in a school in a different suburb and I feel 100% safe. While my son’s school is only going back hybrid at half day 50% mine is full day 50%. In March they will start bringing some kids in 4 days a week and then more kids to start coming in person 3 days instead of just 2. They’re way ahead of my district. However here too I had kids tell me that many stay remote on certain days specifically when they have tests so they can cheat.
There are many programs teachers can use to avoid cheating but these kids are not doing themselves any help. For younger kids they will either bomb AP Exams or it will show up next year when they don’t have the skills required for certain courses. For older ones it will bite them in some college courses.
As for AP Exams. I don’t think any school should require them and whether teachers are evaluated based on those it’s hard to say. I know our district keeps changing the schedule. Now there are a few extra days off to plan for hybrid. The AP Chem teacher told the students they need those days so she’s still having class. She also mentioned many schools can’t get all the material in. I have no idea how my kid will do on these exams while being taught completely remote and my only comparison will be my other kids except he also has 2 teachers new to those classes this year so if he doesn’t do as well is it the teacher or the remote? Ultimately who really cares? For him the mode of testing hasn’t impacted him. Nor for some reason has remote. But for many, schools are not doing enough and for the many colleges still keeping kids remote that is something to seriously consider.
@123Mom123 We are still in Omaha at the hotel.
The earliest flight we could schedule is Friday afternoon, so fingers crossed that works out. I have a friend who is a United pilot, and he has been checking the schedule for us since he can see a bit further ahead in his system. Currently flights are scheduled to resume tomorrow, but everything is way overbooked (no surprise), so he said we are probably better with Friday anyway.
Thankfully our school canceled classes all week, even virtual, due to the continuing widespread power outages in Houston, so that takes a bit of pressure off our girls. Ironically, we are scheduled to play in another tournament Friday through Sunday at the convention center in Houston. Although we won’t make it in for the Friday games, they are allowing our girls to forfeit Friday and still play Saturday and Sunday. My daughter’s biggest worry right now is that she has a virtual interview on Tuesday for a 7 year program she desperately wants at one of her colleges, and we are just praying the power grid is stable by then (assuming we are back). She made the cut to be offered an interview, but the communication about the interview also assigned her a time and said it cannot be rescheduled. Of course if the unthinkable happens she would reach out to the school but we are hoping she doesn’t have to do that. I feel so bad for all our kids. It is just one stress after another this year, isn’t it? I am thankful for our awesome coaches, though, who tracked down makeshift sleds for the girls, so they are all going sledding today since it is warming up a little bit in Omaha. Fun times since most have never done this, and a few haven’t even seen snow before. Nebraska Elite volleyball has also graciously given our team free practice space and time, and the hotel has reduced our rate and gave the girls the conference room here to use for study halls and a movie night last night. We are so fortunate to have all these wonderful people helping us out.
Back home in Houston, our power has been off and on according to my husband. He is fine because we have a gas fireplace that throws a fair amount of heat. We did have to move my daughter’s 8 year old tropical bearded dragon near the fireplace, though. The poor thing doesn’t know what hit her.
It’s just not practical for our HS. Like I said, the second administration is during finals. The third administration is already during summer break. Maybe they will let kids take those tests as make ups. I can’t say for sure that they won’t make an accommodation for someone who asks, but they made the seniors all come in for the SAT, and are making everyone else come in in April for the PSAT so there is an expectation that, if needed, you will come to school.
The digital tests this year need to be taken on a desktop or laptop. Our 1:1 tech is iPads, which won’t work for the digital tests at school or at home. The school doesn’t have a million computers laying around to take digital tests on and it can’t guarantee that kids have the appropriate gear at home - everyone has iPads.
Frankly, by Mid May, I would hope that everyone who is so vulnerable that a student won’t leave the house to sit 6ft apart, masked, in a fieldhouse with multiple story high ceilings to take an optional test for three hours is vaccinated.
And all of the language APs are only available in school on paper (all three administrations). So if anyone hopes to take one of those tests - they are going to school.
How heartwarming to hear of others helping you and the girls make the best of a difficult situation. All of it (the reduced hotel fare, the conference room availability, etc.) made me feel better about humanity! So nice!!! And no doubt the make shift sledding will be a memory for most in the landscape of an otherwise daunting senior year devoid of most fun activities.
Sorry to hear the poor bearded dragon is out of sorts! Poor thing!!! My heart hurts for all in Texas, but especially babies, small children, and pets b/c they can’t comprehend why they are miserable. So vulnerable.
But, hopefully, you all will be on a plane on Friday, and resuming VB tournament participation on Sat!
The CHEATING. How prevalent do folks think this is? Our kids have been back in person 5d a week(small private, can distance etc) since fall. Cheating is very rare in their school and kids enforce honor code on each other anyway. BUT, two different colleagues who have kids in different nearby public districts that are all virtual report absolutely astonishing rampant cheating on virtual, even the top kids, and what makes it worse is the parents don’t seem to care, the schools apparently suspect strongly and do nothing. It is just horrible. Both report cheating was fairly common even in person but nothing like this.
Some AP exams will have no remote option - Music Theory and all foreign languages. Also, students taking the digital exam can not go back to earlier questions to change an answer or to answer the question if skipped. And math and science FRQs are much easier with pencil and paper IMO, although some digital exams are omitting FRQs totally.
Fortunately, I am long past this AP nonsense. But if I were in HS, I would either take in-person or forgo.
I heard of kids having their tutors take last year’s AP tests for them. Classy! If cheating is possible, some people will cheat. It’s sad, and that’s one of the reasons why I really dislike that more and more subjectivity keeps being introduced to the whole admissions process. Are any of the things kids list on their apps verifiable? Leadership, community service, accomplishments, etc. Do colleges ever bother to follow up? Imagine all of the people gaming the system by listing whatever they want, paying someone to write their kids’ essays, etc. It’s too depressing if you are an honest person because it puts honest people at a disadvantage.
The University of California does conduct a random spot-check (aka “Application Verification”) where applicants have to provide documentation of activities, awards, employment, etc. The percentage verified is appears to be very small, however.
It makes me ill to think that people cheat on tests. or lie on their apps, or have others write their essays, etc. It is just unconscionable that anyone would do so. But clearly I am naive.
Like AP tests last year, I am wondering if the with quizzes in one of my D’s dual enrollment classes are more difficult/less time to take quiz to prevent cheating. She has never been one to struggle with time, but has found a couple virtual quizzes challenging. She has 15 min to take quiz and says that she actually knows the information but doesn’t have the time to think about it. This may just be the difference between HS AP and “welcome to college”… but I’m thinking that possibly the same people who cheat in Hs are cheating in college and making it tougher on everyone else…and professors/TAs have to create quizzes that are more complicated than in person years.
Yes, as a college professor I can say that this is one strategy to reduce cheating (limited time to look up answers). For bigger assessments (exams) we also often use online proctoring, which can do a variety of things, including taking a video of the student while they take the exam. You’d be amazed how many of them still cheat while on video. It’s very disconcerting and is yet another reason I really want to get back to normal.
Highly prevalent sadly extremely prevalent in the more prestigious colleges. It makes those who don’t cheat put in a position that they feel the need to cheat. Professors don’t give two sh*ts. My daughter had a class last year that cheating was rampant. Professor was even told that answers were on Cheng. She ignored it. When the final came and grades were posted the professor gave herself a pat on the back for doing such a great job and having such smart students that semester (last spring) because they avg was about 15 points higher than usual. Duh!! My daughter who took the optional final had her grade go down when she was not sure she was going to take the exam at all but she was borderline for an A- and professor said to take it as she won’t go below a B+ as long as she’s within a certain score of the mean. Well, she didn’t do so great but she was within the mean and she got a B. My daughter wasn’t the only one this happened to and was very upset. Professor denied there was any cheating then the excuse was we couldn’t prove it. So the cheater got rewarded with the higher grades and the non cheaters who would’ve set the curve instead got burned. Only because my kid showed the teacher her original email telling her she wouldn’t earn less than a B+ if she scored within a certain amount of the mean did the teacher change the grade but it was a horrible experience and my daughter regretted taking that final at all. Physics and Chem same thing. It was beyond blatant. These professors don’t even look for ways to prevent the cheating.
Ironically my D took physics e&m class at UW-Milwaukee this summer and while it was outrageously expensive considering it was asynchronous and essentially all self taught, the professor actually had better mechanisms in place to make it harder to cheat. You could cheat yes, but if you did you couldn’t do well because you would run out of time on the exams.
My other daughter the cheating seems less a problem at her school and professors are using proctorio and more presentations, papers and projects. More subjective grading and making the extra effort. Huge difference. Sadly this is the public university and much more impressive how they’re dealing with it as opposed to the other prestigious private school that is doing nothing about academic integrity issues. There’s more of a push for in person exams for non remote students so that’s helpful but still not quite enough.
I’m sure it varies by discipline, but old-school methods like rewriting your notes (good students still take notes!), making flash cards, explaining the information to a study buddy, etc. are all helpful. I also recommend always processing the information and writing it down in your own words; sometimes students try to memorize a formal definition but don’t actually internalize the meaning. Under-preparing will be very evident with timed assessments.
My kid’s school has an honor code. I’m sure some kids are cheating, and some aren’t. They are making it more difficult to cheat by making harder tests that move somewhat more quickly. So yes, you might have a list of formulas sitting on your desk, but if you don’t know how to apply them to a complex physics or calculus problem, it doesn’t help all that much. For reading/writing based courses, they’ve shifted away from timed exams towards papers and projects.
Sooner or later, cheaters get caught. Maybe they get away with it in a foundational course with a huge number of students, but if they haven’t mastered the material, eventually they will struggle in higher level classes or in their careers. And for the kids who are cheating in HS, they will have a very rude awakening in college.
Not from collegeboard. But the school admin can look down upon you when your students don’t do good. I am screaming and teaching in zoom today because of snow day (my school is hybrid) as I am worried about this mess. For one I am worried about these children finishing Cal and struggling in college and the second, my school rating will go down. Then admin is going to fuss at us for that.
