Great post Steve. It's good to see that schools are moving away from putting so much emphasis on final exams, which are not reflective of how you learn outside of a school environment. While some stuff does seep through and stick, exams seem to be better at determining how much you can rote learn in a short space of time rather than how well you know a subject. They are stressful and I not overly productive, I'd argue.
Thanks for your comment, @choogirl. I agree with you as they are a very stressful way of assessing students, and I reckon you get more authentic results from an assessment that monitors growth over time. It is quite amazing, though, to think about how much one can actually cram into their brain when needed and then how quickly it dissipates after the exam is over!