Friday, September 12, 2014

Reconsidering Retakes

As a once over-achieving (okay, currently too. I need A's to live, okay?) student, my first instinct when I heard of teachers instituting a test-retake policy was to exclaim "But that's not fair!" because I remember my teenage self way too clearly and I'd have been appalled that someone else would get a second chance after I'd studied and "earned" my A.

Some of you are just as appalled when you think of retakes.

And you have good reason. I have seen retake policies grossly abused and mishandled. If a teacher allows students to retake anything they like AND the retake is not just over the same material, but is the exact same exam, students just fail the test and retake it after they've seen the questions. I worked at a school where retakes were school policy, not teacher policy, and teachers were not willing to do more than hand the same exam out. If you are forced to do something you don't agree with, if it is going to create more work for you, then you are likely to do the minimum to make your superiors happy.

However, I believe I am making retakes work in my classroom.

Before I go into how I offer retakes in my class, though, I want to go into why. Latin, like any language, like other subjects such as math, is a cumulative class. I am currently, with my Latin I's, laying a foundation. If there are gaps in the foundation, most likely the entire structure will crumble when I try to build it higher. So I really need my students to understand everything. Every piece of Latin that we do needs to be comprehended by my students before I can move on to the next. If I just keep pushing students forward with no incentive to revisit material they didn't master before, they will eventually topple over, and I will lose students to the murky "Latin is hard" realm. I need them to learn the material if they miss it the first time around.

So, I offer retakes. With many provisos.

  1. Students must ask for a retake within one school day from the day they receive their graded assessment.
  2. Students must attend a tutoring session during which we review the material covered and their assessment to find out what was understood and misunderstood and make sure students understand what the assessment is asking.
  3. I then write a new assessment over the same material, with new questions and some previous questions (so they can't count on them not being on the retake). This is the assessment students take to replace their previous grade. They are never allowed to take the same test or quiz twice.
What I see in my classes as a result:
  1. Mostly relaxation. Students are not stressed about quizzes or tests because they trust that they will be able to get the best grade they can.
  2. Instead of students "cheating the system" by just failing whenever they like and then retaking, most students are still earning 90s and above on my assessments. I've assigned, graded, and returned three assessments, and only five students out of 190 (I have large classes this year) have bothered with a retake so far.
  3. I get to work closely with struggling students without having to chase them down myself. I help them work on study habits, correct their misconceptions about the language, and generally get to know them.
I see retakes as more emphasis on mastery, which is what I look for in my classes. Miriam, in her previous blog post, talks about using Standards Based Grading (or as close to that as we can get with our required traditional grade books) and a retest policy for the same purpose. Mastery requires a good foundation, and retakes help me achieve one.

13 comments:

  1. Yay! Not only do I agree, but I like the way you have anticipated and empathized with the common objections up front.

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    1. Thanks! I have seen it done so poorly that I had a student tell me that he never bothered to study for tests anymore (except mine).

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  2. I do the same thing Rachel, with almost the same conditions; they have to retake it within the week, they have to do it WITH me after school, and it's a modified (sometimes harder) version of the same quiz. I allow retakes of ONLY quizzes (not tests), and they have to score below 90% to be eligible (which is VERY generous IMO); I don't want them retaking things SOLELY for grade improvement. It really benefits the ones who need it, and those are the ones the policy is aimed for. I think it recognizes the reality of a teenager's life, too. --Michelle

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    1. I am offering retakes for all summative assessments, but I really am only giving quizzes for assessments (an entirely separate issue based on a requirement that we devote 45% of our students' grades to summative assessments). Theoretically (my current approach to retakes is kind of an experiment) it will still be reflecting mastery, since students have to master the material and take a new quiz. We'll see :)

      I agree completely--teenagers have up and down days and your retakes allow them to have a bad day and then repair it!

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  3. Totally agree, Rachel. I am a huge fan of retakes for the same reasons you are. My approach is slightly different -- I give students two weeks to do a retake (I bought a "Retake by:" date stamp, so students know exactly when the deadline is) and require that they turn in their corrected quiz before they can do the retake. Some students do sit down with me to figure out where they went wrong, but most figure it out for themselves while theyʻre doing corrections.

    I find that the biggest benefit of having a retake policy is that students feel like youʻre on their side and that you want them to do well. It also encourages them to really take responsibility for their learning -- they canʻt blame a bad grade on me, because they had a chance to improve.

    Itʻs funny, because many people that Iʻve talked to about this bring up the fairness issue, but my students have never had a problem with it. Everyone agrees that itʻs much less of a hassle to just study the first time around and not have to deal with missing a study hall/staying after to do the retake... but they all appreciate having it there "just in case".

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    1. It also recognizes that we all sometimes have a bad day or a hard time getting used to a class and its expectations.

      And you have a great point--if a question comes up about a student's grade, I just have to explain the retake policy. I have already communicated with parents about it so they know it's in place and can ask their kids if grades drop. It's wonderful to put the responsibility in the students' hands.

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  4. Awesome, but your proviso #1 doesn't align with your SBG practices. If learning occurs after a week, why not allow the same opportunity? If a student earns an 80, but then becomes more familiar with the Latin, why not allow them to replace that grade after three weeks? After all, it reflects their current understanding, no? My policy is that students have up until two weeks before our quarter ends, since that is a very real deadline and I cannot change grades after that time. The tutoring session is spot on, I just think you could make this work so much better if students were further encouraged to master the material, especially if they learn at different rates (which they do).

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    1. I actually have not implemented SBG practices yet--that is Miriam (we co-own this blog). Currently proviso #1 prevents kids from waiting until they're failing to start fixing issues, which is a concern of mine. Some kids won't care that they're not building a foundation--they will only care that they're still making a grade they can accept. If I limit when they can make up the quizzes, then they have to act sooner rather than later.

      However, I know Miriam's policy differs from mine, and she will be posting hers as well! She has definitely ventured into SBG in a way I have not yet. I have been playing with ideas, but am not quite ready to take the plunge for my own classes until I have it worked out.

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    2. Hey Lance,

      As Rachel said, I'll be posting a follow up to my SBG post on my own retake policy. She and I do them a little differently, and her first proviso is something we do differ on. I'll be sure to address, as best I can, what you say here :)

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  5. As a student, I always hated retakes because I had classmates who cheated the system. However, as a teacher, I want my students to see the value in continuing to learn even after they take the test so in my first year of teaching I started doing test corrections with my students. When I grade the tests (usually the same day the students took it, unless someone was absent), I mark what is wrong and instead of writing in the correct answer, I write detailed comments explaining how the original answer is incorrect and redirecting the student so that s/he can come up with the correct answer. The next day when I return the tests the students work on corrections to earn 1/2 of the points back. They have the whole period to ask me questions, to look up vocabulary and notes, and to turn in their corrections.
    I admit that the marking process is time consuming, but it is worth it for my students. Usually their corrections are perfect (if they're still wrong, then I will write in the correct answer), the students have a better understanding of the content in the following units, and they have the correct answers to study for their semester exam.

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    1. I allow for retakes because I am seeking grades that reflect the level of mastery a student has in my class. If they gained mastery later, but it is 100% mastery, I want the grade to reflect that.

      However, anything that encourages and helps reflection is wonderful. I'm trying to teach my son to reflect on his grades voluntarily and it's not easy.

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  6. Salve Rachel,

    So I just commented on Miriam's last post that this post and her post are very well-timed for me.

    I am revising my retake policy this year such that I give my larger summative assessment earlier in the quarter to give students who later demonstrate increased understanding a chance to reassess. I'm closing the quarter to reassessments one week before the end of the quarter (minimizing the last-minute rush.)

    So, great post! Please keep updating us on how it's going as the year moves along.

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    1. Thank you! We are both trying several new things this year and I am sure we will keep updating to reflect that :)

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