Pinellas County Schools incentivizes great attendance, grades with opt outs for finals
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - The Pinellas County School District is considering a policy change that could convince more students to show up to class.
The plan would create an incentive for students to apply themselves throughout each semester; those who do may be able to opt out of a few of their final exams.
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Pinellas Area 4 Superintendent Michael Vigue says the district is exploring a plan to expand its current exam exemption policy, which allows students with an A or B in certain courses and fewer than five absences in a semester to opt out of non-core, non-college level exams at the end of a semester.
Vigue says the policy is a great incentive for those at the top of their class, and he’d like to use it to encourage even more students to apply themselves as best they can throughout the entire term.
"It's nice that we have a policy in place that allows students an opportunity. We just want to broaden the net. We want to give more kids an opportunity," Vigue explained to FOX 13. "I think we have students in the middle that might say, [the current policy] might be too hard for me, so I might not try. This gives students an opportunity to demonstrate proficiency throughout the term and that’s what matters."
The new policy under consideration for the 2024-25 school year would expand final exam exemptions to students with a C or higher in the course and fewer than five absences in that same class. They would also be able to skip the end-of-semester exam twice in certain scenarios.
Exemptions for finals would be limited to non-EOC courses and electives.
Students taking college-level classes or state-required core classes would still be required to take those final exams but may experience a bit more breathing room at the end of the year if they’re able to opt out of lower-stakes tests.
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Vigue says exempting an exam will not impact a student’s GPA in that course, and if a student opts to take the exam to try to improve their grades, they couldn’t be hurt by a poor performance.
"If a student says, ‘You know what? I want to try the exam anyway,’ they can do that, and it’s only to the betterment of their grade," explained Vigue. "In a scenario like that, you may have a C or B student who could potentially pull their grade up to an A."