In 1967, because of changing social conditions and deteriorating discipline, final examinations were eliminated at Heights High. Since then the students at Heights have been without the benefit of the experience of taking final exams.
Now, thanks to the efforts of several groups, final exams stand a chance to be reinstated here at Heights. A report just released by the Final Examination Advisory Committee considers and endorses the renewal of the final examination program. The establishment of this committee, chaired by Dr. Charles Williams, was encouraged both by teachers and parents who ther than assigning the duty to a committee within each depart-felt that such a program would be a good experience for Heights students and by recent Heights graduates who found themselves unprepared for college-level final exams.
The report discusses a large number of considerations but concerns itself primarily with a pair of questionnaires distributed to the Heights faculty. Those who responded favored some sort of final exams by a margin of more than three to one. Seven departments favored finals; only the Art, Business, and Industrial Arts departments decided against the exams. Responses to other parts of the questionnaire revealed that teachers preferred taking part in composing these final exams rament and favored either administrating final exams during the usual classroom schedule or setting aside a special ninety-minute testing period for all students enrolled in a particular course.
The recommendations of the committee include a tentative three-day schedule for final examinations, the consideration of full-year finals for two-semester sequential courses, the necessity of indicating in the curriculum guide those courses for which final examinations are required, and the possible use of national standardized tests when appropriate. The overuse of standardized multiple-choice tests may be unwise; the use of free-response and essay questions in the new final examination experience might be doubly beneficial.
There are certainly reasons for not instituting final exams; they do take up almost two full school weeks and involve some expense. But, as one member of the Advisory Committee said, "Final exams add another dimension to learning and are a good experience for a large number of student." And that is the purpose of education.