Study Plans for Exams

As we approach exams, advisors will be talking to their advisees about semester exams.  Our Freshmen Advisors will be following a more structured plan to help their advisees since this is their first time preparing for semester exams in the Upper School.  The plan, developed by our Upper School Guidance Counselor, Anna Kennedy, involves three steps:

1. Advisors will be going through general study tips with their advisees. Here is a link to the guidelines for those study tips.
2. Next, the freshmen will create a study schedule in advisory as a plan of attack for exams.  Here is a sample study schedule that can help guide the students in making their own plan.  Keep in mind that students should design a plan that best fits with their style of studying and amount of review they need.  The sample can serve as a starting point.
3. Advisors will then spend a few days going through the students' study plans with them to ensure that they are on the right track.

The Freshmen Advisors have already started implementing this process this week, but it is a useful exercise no matter whether you are a freshman or a senior trying to direct your studying efforts.

How Are Exams Factored into the Students' Grades?

Semester exams count for 20% of the students' semester grades.  The semester grade for a class is composed in the following way:

40% - Quarter 1 grade
40% - Quarter 2 grade
20% - Semester Exam grade

Last year, we conducted a comprehensive study to examine the impact that exams have on students' semester grades.  We looked at the possibility of exam exemptions and changing the weighting of exams.  In the end, we decided to keep our current 20% weighting of exams, and we implemented an exam exemption policy for second semester seniors.  The main findings of our study were that exams tend to have a negative effect on semester grades (for about 2/3 of the students), but the effect is very small on average.  The average decrease is 0.71 points (on a 100 point scale), and 54.5% of the semester grades changed by less than a point due to the grade on the semester exam.  Here is the full Summary of the data collected on Semester Exams and their impact on Semester Grades.

2009-2010 Fall Semester Exam Schedule

In today's post about exams, I have included a link to the full exam schedule, which includes when each exam takes place, where it takes place, and the teacher that will be proctoring the exams.  The document also lists some of the exam policies for the students: what to do if you have a conflict exam (two exams in the same department -- e.g. two math classes), the fact that students should come in dress code for exams, etc.

2009-2010 Fall Semester Exam Schedule

What are"Reading Days"?

In second post in our weeklong series on exams, here is an updated post from last year about "Reading Days:"

1. They take place before semester exams and are intended to give students time to focus on studying for their exams.
2. The "Reading Days" will take place on Friday 12/11 and Monday 12/14 before the first semester exams.
3. Students will still come to school for those two days. Most of their classes will spend those two days helping the students prepare for semester exams
4. No major assignments (projects, essays, etc.) or tests can be given or due during "Reading Days."
5. The only exception to #4 is for classes that do not have an exam. If a course does not have an exam, then they can have major assignments or final projects due during those two days. There are a limited number of courses that qualify under that excpetion (mostly Fine Arts and Technology courses).

Top 8 Tips to Help Your Child Prepare for Exams

Semester exams are approaching (December 15th - 17th), and in addition to today's post, we will posting something each day next week on the subject of semester exams.  Hopefully, these posts will help your children prepare for exams while keeping their stress at a manageable level.

Our first post is the "Top 8 Tips to Help Your Child Prepare for Exams:"

1. Help your child create a good study environment.  Clear off the desk or table and make sure there is plenty of light and space.  Free the area from distractions (television, cell phone, computer), and they should not listen to music with lyrics.  It can be very helpful to study in an environment that mimics the testing environment as much as possible.
2. Make sure your child gets a good breakfast in the morning on each exam day. Even if your child "never eats breakfast," make sure they do on exam days.
3. Make sure they get enough sleep the night before exam days.  Staying up late "cramming" for exams is counterproductive because of the lost sleep.
4. Provide positive encouragement throughout the exam preparation process.  A few positive words or a well-timed snack can help keep your child from becoming stressed out.
5. Help your child with organizing their study materials.  Check with your child to make sure that he/she has all of the books, notes, tests, and study guides that they need to study for each exam.  Make sure that those materials are organized in a way that they will be able to study efficiently instead of spending too much time shuffling through papers.  Also, help them with this step far in advance of exams (over Thanksgiving break, perhaps, or the first week in December).
6. Make sure your child takes short breaks while studying.  A good rule of thumb is for them to take a short, 10-minute break for every 45 minutes or so of studying.  This will help keep them refreshed and focused.
7. Keep in mind that your child's study methods may differ from your own.  Help your child find the way to study and prepare for exams that is best for their learning style.
8. Do not "hover" over your child while they are studying.  Provide a supportive environment for your child to prepare for exams using the tips above, but in the end, they have to take responsibility for learning the material and making sure that they are prepared.

2009-2010 Parent Survey

On Friday, we emailed out a link to our brief Parent Survey (6 questions with places for comments).  For those who need it, I have also placed the link below.  We look forward to receiving feedback!

http://thewalkerschool.parentsurvey.sgizmo.com/

Accomplishments in Our Arts Program

Two quick notes on recent accomplishments in our Upper School arts program

1. The fall drama production, Property Rites, won the region 5A one-act play competition and will be competing at the state competition in Warner Robins on Saturday, November 14th.  They will be performing the show for Walker audiences one more time on Thursday, November 12th, at 5pm in the Coca-Cola Family Auditorium.  Admission is free, but they will be accepting donations for UNICEF.

2. Six members of our concert band earned honors at the GISA All-Select competition: Andres Berrios, Phil Feiner, Inkyu Kim, Hunter Mitchell, Carter Murphey, and Helen Sanderson.

We continue to enjoy the quality of work across our entire Fine Arts program, and it is nice for others outside our community to enjoy their work as well.

College Acceptances for Last 5 Classes

As the third and final part of the series of posts on Walker's college admissions, below is a list of the colleges where Walker students applied to and were accepted for the last five graduating classes.  To save on scrolling (this is a particularly long list), only the first few lines are listed; to see the whole list, either click here or click on "Read More" at the bottom of the page.

College Acceptances: Class of 2005 - Class of 2009
Agnes Scott College
Alabama State University
Albany State University
Alfred University
American University
Amherst College
Appalachian State University

Read More...

College Acceptances for the Class of 2009

Here is the second part of the three part series on Walker's college admissions.  Below is a list of the colleges where Walker students applied to and were accepted for the Class of 2009 (the number attending that college is shown in parentheses if it is more than one).  This list can also be found on the Walker website under the College Planning section.  To save on scrolling, only the first few lines are listed; to see the whole list, either click here or click on "Read More" at the bottom of the page.

College Acceptances for the Class of 2009
American University (2)
Appalachian State University (2)
Arizona State University
Auburn University (27)
Ball State University
Belmont Abbey College (2)
Belmont University (3)
Berry College (6)

Read More...

College Destinations for the Class of 2009

This is the first of a three-part series of blog posts that give an overall picture of our college admissions for the last few years.  The first post shows all of the college destinations for our Class of 2009 (the number attending that college is shown in parentheses if it is more than one).  This list can be found on the Walker website under the College Planning section and is published in the program for graduation.  To save on scrolling, only the first few lines are listed; to see the whole list, either click here or click on "Read More" at the bottom of the page.

College Destinations for the Class of 2009
American University
Arizona State University
Auburn University (4)
Berry College (3)
Clemson University (3)
College of Charleston (3)
Davidson College

Read More...

SGA News on YouTube

The SGA tried a new venture last week by filming a short news program to be shown in advisory.  In the program, they previewed the fall play ("Property Rites") and interviewed students from Walker Attack, the new Pep Band.*  Here is the link to the short news program on YouTube.

*Note also that the Pep Band should be congratulated because they earned an "Excellent" rating and first place in the GISA state competition this past weekend.

Did You Know...

...that you can access the Daily Bulletin for the Upper School from home?  You can access the announcements for each day in the PowerSchool parent or student login.  That way you can see the dates for club meetings, college visits, and community service opportunities.  In fact, you can have PowerSchool email you the Daily Bulletin each day (there is a tab called "Email Notifications" where you can choose that option).

Given that today is the end of the first quarter, here is a Did You Know from the blog last year explaining that quarter grades do not show up on student transcripts.

An Achievement by Our Students that You Can't Measure

In the spirit of today's home football game, we would like to pass along an email that was sent to our Mr. Robertson, our headmaster, following last week's road game at Bremen:

Last Friday night, your school's Football team played at Bremen.  Although the score was not conducive to a happy outcome for The Walker school, I wanted to take a moment of my day to express just how impressed I was with the sportsmanship and general good nature of your athletes, students, and fans.  I have 50-yard line seats and was witness to numerous examples of your guys helping up the opposing players, pats on the helmet for good play, and displaying the politeness that is so lost in our society today.  Whatever you are doing and however you do it, please continue as it was a series of heartwarming examples of the experiences that all of us should bless upon one another.

Please pass along my best regards and wishes to your staff for job well done and continued success with the rest of your school year! 

Thank you for your time and patience in reading my e-mail. 

R. Mark Morris
Bremen, Ga.

This letter highlights one of the most impressive things about our football team and student body in general: the number of terrific moments that you get that don't show up in their grades, test scores, or on a scoreboard.

Walker AP Scholars

The College Board awards AP Scholar awards based on the AP grades earned by students during their Upper School career.  Note that AP exams are graded on a score of 1 – 5 with 5 being the highest.  A number of our students earned recognition by the college board, with the following distinctions (highest honor listed first):

10 National AP Scholars (all members of the class of 2009)
- granted to students in the US who receive an average grade of at least 4 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.  Average grade of this group = 4.72

32 AP Scholars with Distinction (26 members of the class of 2009 and 6 still enrolled)
- granted to students who received an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. Average grade of this group = 4.35

22 AP Scholars with Honor (6 members of the class of 2009 and 16 still enrolled)
- granted to students who receive an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP exams and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams. Average grade of this group = 3.93

27 AP Scholars (16 members of the Class of 2009 and 11 still enrolled)
- granted to students who receive grades of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams. Average grade of this group = 3.35

Overall, we had 81 students who were designated as AP Scholars for their success on multiple AP exams, which is a remarkable number for a school our size.  This group overall had an average score of 4.15 on the AP exams they have taken while in the Upper School.

Last year, 179 students in the Upper School took 412 AP exams.  The average grade for all AP exams taken at Walker was 3.75 in 2009.  Congratulations to our all of the students and faculty involved in our AP program!

2009 Alumni Survey Results

In February, we conducted a survey of our alumni from the last four years.  The goal was to find out how well prepared they felt for college after leaving Walker, and also give them an opportunity to share their thoughts about Walker now that they have moved onto college.  104 of our recent alums completed the survey, and we produced a report summarizing the results.  Click here to access a pdf version of the Alumni Survey results.  I encourage you to look at the full report, but below are a few of the highlights:

• 83% of our alumni reported that they received academic credit or placement in college for AP scores.
• 92% of our alumni reported that they felt "Far More Prepared" or "More Prepared" academically than their college classmates.  Not a single alum reported that they felt "Less Prepared" academically than their college classmates.
• Alumni felt particularly prepared when it came to "Writing Skills."  Over half of the alumni reported that they felt "Far More Prepared" than their college classmates when it came to "Writing Skills."

Parent Council Dates 2009-2010

Below are the dates for the remaning Parent Council meetings this semester:

Monday, September 21st
Monday, October 19th
Monday, November 16th

As always, Parent Council meetings are open to all Upper School parents. They take place in the Leithead Boardroom at 8am on the dates above. See this previous post from last year for a description of the Parent Council and a small sampling of what they discussed/accomplished early last year.

Welcome to The Walker Word

Now teachers, students, and parents have settled into the new school year, we are bringing back the Upper School blog with a new name "The Walker Word"!  As we did last year, we will use this space to post news from the Upper School office and items that you may not hear about elsewhere.  This will not be a place for calendar items since that is already covered by the "This Week in the Upper School" that is emailed out by Cheryl Rogers each week.

If there is ever an item that you think would be good to post up on the blog, feel free to email Michael Arjona (michael.arjona@thewalkerschool.org) or Bob Murphy (bob.murphy@thewalkerschool.org).

Spring Parent Conferences

Spring Parent Conferences will be taking place on Friday, April 24th, with your child's advisor. Here are the answers to a few common questions about these conferences:

1. What is the purpose of these conferences?
This conference serves as a great time to meet face-to-face with your child's advisor. You can talk with your child's advisor about how the year has gone from a whole student perspective (academically, socially, extracurricular involvement). Your advisor will also have a list of the courses that your child requested for next year, which can start the process of looking ahead to next year.

2. Will I be meeting with all of my child's teachers?
No, this conference will only be with the student's advisor since it is wider in scope than just, "how is my child doing in their current courses?"

3. Should my child come to the spring conference with me?
It is preferable that the student attends so they can be a full part of the conversation about their education at Walker.

4. Can I make changes to my child's course requests for next year at the conference?
Yes, each advisor will have forms for students to change the courses that they requested in their scheduling meeting. Keep in mind that the course requests that you see at the conference are not your child's schedule for next year; they are just the requests that will be used when the master schedule is built in May.

If there are any further questions about the Spring Conferences, contact anyone in the Upper School Office or your child's advisor. We look forward to seeing you!

Alcohol & Drug Awareness Day - Feb. 27th

Jessica Eaton, our Upper School Guidance Counselor, sent a letter to all parents discussing the all-day Alcohol and Drug Awareness Day that we will be having on Friday, February 27th. Click here if you would like to view a copy of the letter sent home.

It Is OK to Brag Sometimes

Mr. Murphy wrote a letter recently reflecting on the strengths of Walker and answering questions like "Why do our students feel so prepared for college?" and "Do colleges know Walker? Do they know how challenging the curriculum is?"

The letter gives a good overview of the program that we have in the Upper School, and you can access it through this link.

Changes in Graduation Requirements

There are two changes in graduation requirements that were approved by the board recently. They both will take effect with the Class of 2012 (this year's freshmen class).

1. Students will now be required to take 4 units of science as a graduation requirement. Each yearlong class is 1 unit and semester classes are 0.5 units, and our current requirements is 3 units of science. This increase of 1 unit was made primarily because the University System of Georgia will begin requiring 4 units of science for admission. Additionally, this will not be a major change for our students because most of them exceed our current requirement anyway. 64% of our current seniors will be graduating with at least 4 units and 79% of our current seniors will be graduating with at least 3.5 units.

2. The total number of required graduation credits is being increased from 21.5 units to 23 units. This change adjusts our number of credits with our 7-period schedule that has been in place for the past several years. As a basis for comparison, a student could potentially earn 28 credits over the course of 4 years.

Honor Council & Discipline Committee

At the Parent Council meeting on Monday (2/9), one of the points of discussion was a description of how the school handles Honor Code violations or violations of major school rules. We discussed the role of the Honor Council and Discipline Committee as student-led recommending bodies. Here is a link to a one-page graphic handed out at the meeting that describes the process for handling violations of our major school rules or Honor Code.

No More 4-point Scale GPA

As now approved by the Education committee of the Board and starting with 2009-2010 transcripts, we will only report a GPA on a 0 to 100 numerical scale (e.g. 88.5 or 96.4). Below are answers to a few of the questions this may raise.

1. How is this different from what we do now?
Currently, we report both a 4-point scale GPA and a 100-point scale GPA on student transcripts. Next year, we will not have a GPA based on a 4-point scale GPA.

2. Why is the change being made?
Essentially, right now we have two parallel grading scales. We feel that the 100-point scale gives a more accurate picture of a student's achievement at Walker because their grade is not simplified to four categories. Under a 4-point scale, a grade of 80 counts the same as a grade of 86.

Additionally, a 4-point scale more severely penalizes students who fall on the low side of a grade cutoff. As a quick and admittedly extreme example, suppose a student earns 3 grades of 98, 98, and 89. Under our 4-point system, his/her GPA would be a 3.75. Under our 100-point scale, his/her average would be a 95.

3. How will colleges view this change?
First, most colleges prefer the 100-point scale because of the more accurate picture it gives of a student's performance. Additionally, if a school would like to have a student's grades in a 4-point scale, then they will most likely calculate that on their own or we will provide one if asked.

4. When will this change take effect?
This change takes effect next year, beginning with the Class of 2010.

If there are other questions you have about this change that have not been answered above, please contact either Michael Arjona, Upper School Academic Dean.

Parent Council Meetings - Second Semester

Below are the dates for the Parent Council meetings for the rest of second semester:

Monday, February 9th
Monday, March 23rd
Monday, April 20th
Monday, May 18th

As always, Parent Council meetings are open to all Upper School parents. They take place in the Leithead Boardroom at 8am on the dates above. See this previous post for a description of the Parent Council and a small sampling of what they have discussed/accomplished.