Sophomore Rebecca Reesor stared blankly at the wall. She stood patiently waiting for everyone to get the technique down. They were learning how to do piqué turns in dance class, but she already knew how to do them. She enjoyed her class, but she already knew the majority of what the students who had never danced before were learning.
This semester students will have the option to earn credit for a course without taking it. Interested students will be required to pass a test that covers the standards of a course with a 94 percent or above and complete a product.
This concept, Credit by Demonstrated Mastery or CDM, is being introduced by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The State Board policy says that “CDM is to ensure every student has the opportunity for the most rigorous and appropriate courses of study based on academic progress and need.”
Visual arts teacher Kelly King likes the concept of testing out of classes for her students, but she thinks they will miss out on necessary instructional time in the classroom that cannot be replaced by a test and product.
“I like the idea of the option of individual students to begin in a higher level of art class, but I don’t like the idea of getting credit for an entire semester of class by taking one test and showing five to 10 pieces of artwork,” King said. “The student will miss out on information, techniques, guest artists and other valuable experiences.”
Testing out of a class also raises the question of how colleges will react to CDM credits earned by students.
“I don’t know how they’re going to react to this because it is obviously something new in the state,” gifted specialist Angela Perry said. “I certainly don’t think their reaction is going to be negative. As of right now, I’m kind of in a wait-and-see pattern. Let’s see what happens after the first year.”
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has already said it will not accept course credits earned by CDM.
If a student tests out of a class, he or she will receive a ‘P’ for “pass” on a transcript rather than a letter grade. These grades will not be calculated into a GPA. Students cannot receive honors credit through the CDM process.
Perry said she is “pro CDM” but thinks there are some downsides when it comes to core classes.
“If you are CDMing core classes, then you are not getting instruction, and what’s even worse is on your transcript it says basically that you CDMed it,” Perry said. “You lose out on the honors credit, and I’m not so sure how some of these colleges that many students aspire to go are going to feel when someone applies and half their transcript is P instead of A.”
Perry also sees the positive side of giving students the option to test out of elective courses. “This will mainly benefit students who are very proficient in any of the arts classes,” she said.
