District End of Year Exams

District End of Year Exams

Frequently Asked Questions from Students & Parents:

1. Are End of Year (EOY) exams new?

No – this is just a different term for course final exams, which have been in place in Polk County Schools for decades.

1. How were district End of Year (EOY) exams created?

The EOYs were 100% teacher-created. All of the test items included in these exams were created by Florida teachers (some by Polk teachers only, and others through collaboration between Polk teachers and teachers of other Florida school districts), while the test forms, in order to maintain security, were assembled by the district curriculum teams using these teacher-created items. This test item creation has been a multi-year process, which we began in 2011, and which involved test item creation, review, and field test form creation (2014-15 was a field test year for EOYs). After receiving the field test data, our district psychometrician conducted item analyses, using the same criteria used by the Florida Department of Education for state assessments. 170 Polk County teachers came in over the summer to review any test items that were flagged using these criteria, and determine whether to revise or remove these test items. The district curriculum teams then made the recommended adjustments to the End of Year exams. The 2015-16 versions of the district EOYs are the result of several years of collaborative work by teachers.

1. Do students take final exams in addition to district end-of-year exams? No, the district end-of-year exams replace teacher-created final exams, so as to minimize the amount of testing.
2. Why do some courses not have EOYs?

In order to minimize testing, the district did not create EOYs for courses that are already assessed by a state or national assessment, such as Advanced Placement exams or End of Course exams. Additionally, because the district offers over 1,000 courses, EOYs were not created for low enrollment courses with fewer than 5 teachers and 50 students enrolled in the course.

1. How will exams count toward student grades? In the past, course final exams counted at different weights, depending on teacher decision; final exams were weighted as heavily as 50 percent of the course grade in some cases, and as little as 5 percent in others. In order to ensure equity for students, the decision was made to standardize the EOY weight, using a gradual build-up. In 2014-15, exams counted as 10 percent of the semester grade for grades 7-12, 5 percent of the semester grade for grade 6, and was a school-based decision for grades K-5.

In 2015-16, the exams will count toward student grades as follows:

1. Elementary: Test grade
2. Grade 6-8 Courses: 20% of the course grade
3. Grades 9-12: 30% of the course grade

Note that, for students in grades 6-8 taking a high school course, the EOY counts as 30% of the course grade.

EOY weighting decisions were made by a team of stakeholders, which included administrators, teachers, and parents, in order to be equitable, given that Florida statute 1012.34 requires school districts to evaluate teachers on their students’ learning. All EOYs will be curved using a district-wide grading scale.

1. Is an exam weighted heavier if it is counted as 30% of both semester grades for a yearlong course, vs. 30% of the final course grade? No – these are mathematically the same.
2. Can a failing grade on the EOY lower my course grade from an A to a C? No. If a high school student has a numeric average of 90% for semester 1, 90% for semester 2, and receives an F on the EOY, the course grade will not be lower than a B (81%). In no cases can an EOY grade lower the final course grade by more than one letter grade.
3. Will there be grade scaling or curving for EOYs? Yes. The district psychometrician will create curves for each exam, to ensure that the final scores on the EOY mirror the distribution of course grades. This means that if, for example, 35 percent of students in Chemistry have an A in the course, the top 35 percent of test scores will be curved to an A. In no case will the district scaling impact students negatively. For example, if the scores on an EOY are universally high, such that 80 percent of students receive a raw score of 90 percent correct or above on the EOY, the raw scores will not be rounded down to lower student grades.
4. How will I know what content is on the exam? Your teachers will be able to help you prepare for the EOYs. All test items were written to assess standards in the course description, so everything on the exam is taken from the course standards. Test blueprints and test item specifications, which include sample test items, are available on the Assessment, Accountability & Evaluation website (under District Assessment Resources).
5. Will it impact my grade if there is an error on an exam? No. The district will provide the raw score to grade conversions, and will omit problematic items from the final calculation.
6. What type of process will be used to identify exams with problems, or to improve the quality of low-quality exams? The EOY training provided to teachers includes directions on how to report errors on an EOY, while still preserving test security. These error reports will be gathered by the district assessment team. Just as we did last summer, we will offer an open application process for a team of teachers to participate as test item reviewers over the summer months. The district’s Psychometrician and his team will conduct item analyses on each test administered in the district, and will use the same performance indicators that the FLDOE uses for state assessments to flag items with possible problems. These items will be presented to the team for review and, if found to have problems, will be edited or discarded (based on recommendations) and removed from all calculations.
7. What are some examples of the impact will the EOY have on my course grade, after scaling and curving of the EOY scores? The lowest EOY grade possible is a 59%, for all students who attempt the exam (attempt is defined as a response to the majority of the items on the exam). The table below shows the impact of the lowest EOY grade on the final course grade. As you can see from the table below, the most that the EOY can drop a student’s grade is by one letter grade.

Formula: (Semester 1 Grade * .35) + (Semester 2 Grade * .35) + (EOY Grade * .30) = Final Course Grade