Technology at HHRS

Phones:

The amount of cell phone usage is a big deal at this school. We have strict rules in regards to phones being allowed in class. We are, however, allowed to use them for certain utilities such as calculators, notes, recording, looking things up, listening to music, etc. at the discretion of the teacher.

Yet, we seem to use phones way more than the limit allows. We as a student body often hide them behind chromebooks, under desks, and in the hallways. We may be allowed to use them in some classes, but some people disregard that and use them in ALL classes. It may be a special occasion sometimes for the class, but that is often taken as a hint or clue to be able to use the phones more often. We have come up with clever ideas to masque our phone usage at school.

Some people try to cover it with paper, with their belongings, or with their own bodies (maybe even hair). Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to hide it when you don’t even have much time. Somehow, we always seem to find a way to use our phones in class.

Chromebooks:

Our chromebooks are purchased by the school and are a generous gift. They are to be used for school activities such as a project, homework, or just to complete a classwork assignment. The chromebooks are definitely an advantage and it's a good thing we have them. We can contact other students and teachers for help or directions. We can also use them for extracurricular activities, just like this article is being written on a chromebook in my google docs. Our chromebooks are very reliable. Some people don't take good enough care of them and they break. The case is very heavy itself so we often go without them, but that means they are very vulnerable, and can therefore can easily break. We may also accidentally throw it, drop it, or spill something on it.

Sometimes we play games on them, mostly when we're not supposed to, or if we're bored and have free time because who doesn’t love that little dinosaur game once in a while (of course, it is disabled though). But these opportunities are far and few between.

There are many teachers that let us play educational games. Ms. Faria and Ms. Glester are huge on the vocabulary hangman, while Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. Boylan have some great math games! There are many games related to some of our core subjects.

-Anonymous

PARCC Testing

As the seasons turn and spring has official sprung, standardized testing has become prevalent in the lives of high school students. The standardized testing exam used in the state of New Jersey is currently the PARCC. Most students don’t even know what PARCC stands for. What the acronym means is “Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers”. The state of New Jersey has had a series of standardized tests before the PARCC. New Jersey has been giving standardized tests to their students since the year 1975 since the state passed legislation for the Public School Education Act.

Standardized testing, especially the mandatory PARCC assessment for those students in New Jersey, has been a drag for the vast majority for students. Nearly all students hate the PARCC assessment. I have never met a student who said they liked or enjoyed the test. The jokes some students have made about the exam displays how students abhor taking the test, such as “why would I trust someone who spells Park with two C's to give me an exam” or “The PARCC should take one C off of it and be spelled backwards, that would be more accurate." High school culture is so anti-standardized testing simply because it is long and boring. At Henry Hudson, the Academic Bootcamp solution was implemented earlier this year to get students to raise their PARCC scores. The results for the assessment will not be in until some time later next year, where the effects of the program will be reviewed.

There has been a lot talk of getting rid of standardized testing. It has been the subject of many class papers and the topic for debate teams, but now it looks like something actually might happen that would get rid of the tests. The state's new progressive Governor Phil Murphy is a proponent for getting rid of standardized testing, and judging by the progressive changes he has made thus far to the state, it wouldn't be unlikely for him to change this as well. He has been quoted saying “High stakes, high stress standardized tests must end." This position would also be popular with students, so reforming the state’s standardized testing program does seem likely.

Now that testing is over, students can begin to reflect on the five unit tests in total, three for Math and two for English. 8th and 11th grade students also were expected to take the Science portion of the PARCC. Each testing block is usually between 60-90 minutes long, so many students had to bring something else to do upon finishing. Phones and other devices were not allowed during the PARCC test, and the teachers collected them before the test and returned them once the session was over.

Here's to hoping we see some updating testing in the new school year!

-Owen Thurman, freshman