Attached below is a letter directed towards members of the Pittsburgh Public School Board, written by members of the student body at Taylor Allderdice. It's written for the purpose of getting PPS to reconsider how they administer finals exams for the first semester. In the letter they are encouraged to not give finals at all, or if unavoidable move to a pass/fail grade scale. We believe that having finals will only hurt people during these unprecedented times of online learning. 

We understand however, that the concerns of the authors are just that, only the concerns of those a part of this letter's construction. Hence why we've attached our letter so you may read more about our concerns, but further we encourage everyone with a personal relation to PPS this year to share their experiences through the comments. 

To Whom It May Concern:

We hope this letter finds you well. We wanted to write to you to express some concern over the announcement that there will be final exams this year. We understand your want to try and maintain our school atmosphere as if we were still in person. That being said there are a number of reasons why having finals this year will only hurt students and teachers.

First and foremost, in this online learning environment it will be impossible to enforce anything resembling a level playing field. Technology problems are unpredictable and inevitable. Particularly, students at an economic disadvantage who use school computers and have less than reliable internet connections are already not on a level playing field, not only in a final exam situation, but also in their ability to learn the content and participate in class throughout the semester. We have all seen examples this semester of students having to miss important classes due to technological errors that they have no control over. For example, several times throughout the year Schoology stopped working for everyone causing many kids to miss entire days of schools.  We have even been told by teachers that certain students have not been able to log on to school since the beginning of the year, particularly the English as a Second Language (ESL) student body whose needs have not all been met during the pandemic.

Secondly, the effects of the pandemic have proven to be a detriment to mental health. It has been proven on many occasions that the isolation caused by the pandemic has caused a dramatic increase in the rates of depression and anxiety amongst adolescents. In an article by UChicago Medicine*, they note how the rate of depression and depressive symptoms have increased during the pandemic and that poor performance in school is a side effect of worsening mental health (Felicia Houston). We have all taken final exams and we all know how much stress these exams can induce for students. This added stress coupled with the very prevalent effects of the pandemic creates an abnormally high-stress environment that is completely avoidable by not making students take finals this year.

It is inappropriate to hold finals in the manner in which is planned due to the unique circumstances this school year presents. Semester finals, in perfect conditions, exist in order to examine the level of understanding a student presents. Given the unprecedented nature of this school year, nobody knows if finals as held in the past are an adequate measure of the very thing they exist for. The district shouldn’t be able to give us tests with very real implications on students' transcripts (and therefore futures), when unsure of the true effectiveness of its exams. We propose two options for amending this problem: either we switch to a pass/fail system for finals or we do not take finals for this semester entirely. A pass/fail system would ensure that while students are still proving a certain level of understanding and proficiency in a subject, their grade will not be reflected poorly due to circumstances that are not under their control. Additionally, during a time when there are so many possible stressors weighing on a student’s mental health, a pass/fail system will alleviate some of the stress brought on by the possibility of receiving a poor grade. 

The impact of having no finals at all are equally, if not more so, beneficial to students. Much like the pass/fail tests it would help improve student’s mental health greatly by avoiding the incredibly stressful testing season entirely and it wouldn’t punish students who due to unfortunate circumstances aren’t able to constantly be involved in their classes. Having no final exams also has some of its own benefits. It will give students more time to focus on their regular quarter grades and make sure they get their work done rather than distracting them by making them study for finals on top of their already large amount of assignments. During a year when a much higher number of students than normal are failing one or more classes, students would greatly appreciate more time to improve their grades without extra stressors to focus on like studying for a final. Having no finals would also help teachers by giving them more time to teach their lessons and allow them to stay on track of their lesson plans. In addition, it would give them more time to develop lessons and grade students work without being distracted by the enormous task that is creating a final fit for online from scratch. While we believe that not having final exams is the more beneficial option, both proposed solutions are valid. However, it is clear that having normal finals this year will only hurt students and teachers and that it would be much better to adopt a different way of handling finals season due to the unique situation we are all facing this year.   

We sincerely hope you consider how the students feel when making your decision.

*https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/news/too-young-to-be-stressed-out-ingalls-behavioral-health-focuses-on-adolescents-too