by Kobi Gyan ‘24

At the beginning of the third quarter, Principal Tim Britton implemented a new testing day schedule that is aimed to relieve the stress on students from having multiple tests on the same day. The new test day calendar assigns subjects to different days of the week to prevent overlap of major assessments on the same day. The only exception  from this calendar is math, because the department’s teachers believed that they needed the flexibility to align assessments to the pacing that students are learning material.

“All four of my own children have gone through college and they have never, ever had a situation where all their professors have had a test scheduled on the same day,” said Britton. “So I feel as though if colleges can work out their schedules, why can’t a high school?”

The idea for a testing calendar originated in the fall when the Principal’s Advisory Committee (PAC), a group of students from different grade levels, met with Britton to discuss issues within the school. In one meeting, some students shared how overwhelming having 3-4 tests on one day can be. Britton brought up the plan to the school’s Instructional Leadership Team to install it at the beginning of the second semester.

“You get students that take four AP classes, two honors classes and it’s like, what are they going to study for; what are they going to prioritize?” said Britton. “With the schedule students at least know that on any given week, things will be spread out.”