Weekly News and Notes

Good morning!

Our weekly news and notes are coming out today instead of tomorrow, since there is no school tomorrow for students. We wanted to provide some updates in advance of midyear exams and share some thoughts on some things that have come forward from students.


Midyear Exams

There are several schools of thought on midyear exams, and, as you can imagine, with a staff of more than 50 educators and almost 600 students, we hear a lot of those perspectives. In that spirit, we are going to outline some of the reasons we offer midyear exams at UHS, though it is a practice we are reconsidering as we move forward.

1. Exams help determine where students are. In terms of skills and content, midyear exams give students (and staff) an idea of the most important topics from a course, so that we can push critical areas into semester two as needed.

2. Exams give students experience sitting for a longer assessment. Given PSAT's, SAT's, and MCAS, we try to model some of the exam experiences so that students have some idea of that type of process before they take the actual test.

3. Some exams do not have study guides. As we share with the students, there is no one way to "study" for AP tests or College Board tests. As such, we define some of the topics that could come up on the test, but because the assessments are modeled after College Board experiences - particularly in Honors classes - we find students looking for specific questions or guides, in the hope that regurgitating what teachers give them will be sufficient. We obviously try to avoid that experience and try to get students to apply some of what has been learned, which is what MCAS, AP, SAT, ACT, etc. will require of them. In fact, we model some of the questions off of the very questions we get back from those assessments, so students have even more familiarity.

4. Some summative experiences are project-based. Particularly in the extended core, like the fine arts, the summative "exam" is more of a final project than a final exam, that shows that the student can "do" what the class has attempted to teach over the course of a semester.

While next week's school days are half-days, the faculty and staff are in the building for full days. We use the half-days to provide students who are missing opportunities to finish work to catch up, to review with teachers, and to finalize any work from courses that end at the mid-year point. It also allows our teachers to assess student work, norm grading expectations, and contact counselors for students who may need interventions.

We value the experience of midyears, as they likewise allow us to hit the reset button in advance of quarter three. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your student's counselor.

Connections to OLV

Earlier this week, we were saddened to learn of the news from Holy Cross, which resulted in the passing of an Uxbridge resident who attended OLV as a primary/middle school student. When events such as these tragedies occur, we mobilize our support team, and we work closely with families, community, and other schools to ensure that our staff and students are appropriately supported. In situations such as this, which may not directly affect our school as a whole, we similarly attempt to support our neighbors in the community, particularly since the connections between our students and families, either as family members, friends, or neighbors, may be quite tight. As such, our counselors and administration work closely to support staff elsewhere - not because it is a requirement, but because it is the right thing to do.
As such, please reach out to our administration if and when something tragic occurs. We have explicit procedures in place to help.

Second Semester Schedules

If for some reason there is a course change required or requested, counselors will be the first line of contact. In most cases, it is difficult to make changes for second semester. However, if something occurred at the end of first semester that makes a change the best course of action (for example, a student does well in an introductory class and wants to attempt a second level in a half-year course), we can attempt to maneuver the schedule.
We also have some post-secondary course opportunities available to juniors and seniors, including drone licensure and other for-credit courses at Quinsigamond Community College.

Course Selection for Next Year

We will be in touch next week with dates for course selection assemblies and meetings with parents and students. Our hope is have these meetings in February, and then we will begin the process of course selection with students right around the February break.

College Acceptance Wall!

The next time you are in the building, check out the Wall of Acceptances: more than 60 schools are represented!

Have a great long weekend.

Mike Rubin, Principal