By William Croyle
Enquirer contributor

ERLANGER - A snowstorm forced most schools in the region to close last week, but Lloyd Memorial High School stayed open. And many students trudged through the snow to get there.

"I had a couple friends who normally would have skipped school, but exams are a real bore and they want to get out of them," said Lloyd sophomore Nick Sexton. "They're real gung-ho about this."

Sexton was referring to a new exam policy put in place this semester. Students can skip taking a semester or final exam if they achieve at least a 90 percent average with no absences, or a 95 percent average with no more than four absences. They cannot have any discipline referrals.

The idea came from Lloyd government teacher Chris Lenhof, who benefited from a similar policy as a student at Scott High School in the 1990s. "The ultimate goal is to improve attendance and to help those at the average level shoot for a higher level," he said. If the policy had been in effect last semester, he said, about 10 percent of the roughly 600 students would have been exempt. He and administrators hope that number will rise.

"For the average kid, it gives them a shot at putting forth a better effort during the 18 weeks of school," said Lloyd Principal John Riehemann. "For me, those 18 weeks are more important than a two-hour exam."

Similar policies are common at many schools in the area. Some are based just on grades. Others apply only to juniors and seniors. At Covington Catholic, students in all grades are exempt from a class exam with a 93 percent or better average.

"The borderline cases will try to do extra credit or whatever needs to be done to get that grade up a point or two," said CovCath Principal Mike Clines.

In a poll of college professors nationwide, the reaction to the policy was mixed.

"Cramming for final exams promotes short-term memory storage of information rather than a deep understanding of complex topics and content," said Kathleen Sullivan Brown, assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

But Dr. William Kraus, professor of education at Wittenberg (Ohio) University, sees final exams in a different light.

"Both the studying students do in preparation for the exam and the actual taking of the exam help the students to review the major concepts of the course...and how they apply to the world around them," said Kraus. "Instead of rewarding good students by exempting them from exams, we are actually depriving them of an opportunity to learn."

Some teachers at Lloyd, though, are already seeing a change in students' attitude.

"They are very excited and very motivated," said English teacher Lisa Heck. "Just yesterday, I had a kid who is generally a 'C' student say, 'I'm really working toward that 90.'"