Test Retakes - Why would we NOT allow these?

It's a rare treat to hear a speaker on a professional learning day say something that changes my pedagogy forever. This happened many years ago when our school district brought in Damian Cooper to speak to us as a faculty. A few years later my building principal at the time also brought Damian to our school to work with our staff over lunch hours. One amazing thing that Damian had said to us that first occasion was something to the effect of... "A student's final grade in a class should a reflection of what they know on the last day of the semester, not based on a variety of snapshots over the course of the semester." This floored me and forever changed my philosophy of education.

I was never one to let students retake tests, resubmit projects, etc. I always wanted students to look ahead to the next challenge versus becoming mired in the past. I convinced myself that this was correct as this is what many of my colleagues did at the time as well. However - what I eventually realized (with the help of Mr. Cooper) is that a child's grade never reflected the sum of their knowledge. Their grade was based on multiple successful and unsuccessful attempts over the course of a school semester.

I immediately revised my classroom expectations and philosophy of assessment. From that point on, ALL students could retake assessments as many times as they would like. Why wouldn't I give a student another opportunity to demonstrate to me their competencies? Perhaps it took some students longer to understand the five themes of geography? Maybe a student didn't know the locations of all 50 states in September, but now knows them in October and wants another shot to show me this newly-gained knowledge? Their end-of-semester grade should be organic and be able to evolve with the child over time versus being locked into these various assessment benchmarks throughout the semester.

As I implemented this policy, I quickly learned that I should also extend this to projects, papers, etc. Education is the acquisition of knowledge over time. I found my old policies were severely inhibiting that pursuit of knowledge. If a child bombed a test, there was no incentive for them to ever go back and learn that missing information.

Now, I do have a policy for test retakes. My policy reflects that one of three things didn't happen the first time preparing for the assessment.

• The child did not understand the material.


• The child does not know HOW to study for a test.


• The child did not put in the necessary time to prepare for the test.

I make my students follow three basic steps in order to earn the ability to retake a test:

1. Make an appointment to come in, correct the test, and work with me 1-1 to go over the trouble areas of the first assessment attempt.


2. Create flashcards for all vocabulary from the unit. (Sometimes I have students use other study tools instead of flashcards - it depends on what is being assessed).


3. Bring in a note signed by mom/dad/guardian stating that the child prepared at least 60 minutes for this retake.

Why do I do this? Am I simply creating busy work? No. If I didn't have a policy like this in place with high school students, my suspicion would be that students would simply not prepare effectively the first time so that they could get a sneak-peak at the test and know in their head that a retake could be immediately taken. In addition, the 1-1 time with the student truly eliminates "stabs-in-the-dark" by students. We have a chance to process the test and synthesize what is being asked in each question. It is my belief that the child ends up with a much deeper knowledge of the content in the end.

At the end of the day I can sleep at night knowing that I am giving every child every opportunity to demonstrate their competencies in our subject area. The child determines the grade they want in the class, not me. I don't give grades - children earn them.

I don't submit today's blog entry as gospel. My pedagogy continues to evolve over time and I know these policies will grow and change as well. I throw this out to all who read this: What are your thoughts? What are your classroom policies on retakes/re-submissions? Is there a better way? I'm open to all - so please post your comments/questions.