This year GEHS had hype assemblies for sophomores and juniors to help get them motivated for their state assessments. Some people thought that the assemblies motivated them while others did not see a difference in their motivation for the tests. The ideal ending to these assemblies would be a big difference in this year’s test scores to last year’s.
The party consisted of prizes, snacks, drinks, speeches, and trivia questions. The party was not exactly what we expected for sure, and we don’t believe it was the best idea all around.
We think that the assemblies were fairly good, but they could have been better. Many people were expecting to be handed popcorn, but most did not get the chance to receive any. To fix this problem they could have handed the popcorn and drinks out to people as they came in, or set some out for people to grab, to ensure that everyone at least had the chance to get something from the assembly. The prizes were also only given to a select few, which is fair, but instead of spinning a wheel for one, they should have had state testing-related questions that people could raise their hands and answer for a prize to make it more fair.
The assembly itself was not very educational. It would have been nice if the sophomores and juniors were told why state assessments mattered so much. Sure, it’s good to have good test scores, but it would be more motivational to hear what those scores would do for the school and for students. However, the assembly, the junior one specifically, did have some highlights. The usage of state assessment statistics was a good idea, even if they could have been used better. The prizes were also well thought-out.
The junior’s assembly was relatively calm, but it’s definitely easy to see how this type of assembly could easily get out of hand. With a whole grade put into the auditorium, there is a risk of the fun assembly going astray. Obviously with these assemblies taking place during seminar it would not be ideal for students, faculty, and teachers if a problem were to arise due to these parties.
The big question, though, is whether or not these assemblies, as well as the signs around the school encouraging students to “deliver,” really made a difference in the state assessment scores.
While the school will not know this until the test scores come out, there have been mixed opinions on the effectiveness of the assemblies. Some believe that regardless of what the school does, the students who already planned to try on the assessments would, and the students who did not would not. However, if students genuinely enjoyed these assemblies, then that would give them a reason to try harder.
If students really enjoyed the assemblies and goodie bags, which were provided to students the day of testing, then they may work hard on the assessments to show the school that rewarding them beforehand with an assembly is a smart choice. Therefore, students having the same scores as last year for these tests would, in a way, be saying that the assemblies did not make a difference for them and that the school needs to try something else.
A nice way to describe the assembly would be giving prizes to prompt good behavior, but you could also just call it bribing. GEHS has done multiple things in order to try and improve test scores. It is unfortunate to see they are trying so hard to get students to care about state testing that they had to bribe students to at least try. That doesn’t just say something about the school, but also the students in it.
All in all, however, this type of motivation is a first for most people at GEHS. The rewards and activities surrounding the test could continue to get better and better as the years go on, and they could really make a difference in the school’s scores, which would likely help with funding, thus helping everyone in the school. This might be the answer, and it might have worked for all we know, but this solution does not seem like it will be sustainable in the long-term.
