This high school test retake policy is wild

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

Thanks for sharing.

And this is my problem with FCPS. There is no consistency. So a student takes a class from a teacher that allows retakes up to 100% and doesn't make it impossible - kid gets A, another teacher for the same subject makes it impossible.

They are both competing for the same colleges.

[Anonymous]

If I was teaching in FCPS, I would just give every kid an A right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

Thanks for sharing.

And this is my problem with FCPS. There is no consistency. So a student takes a class from a teacher that allows retakes up to 100% and doesn't make it impossible - kid gets A, another teacher for the same subject makes it impossible.

They are both competing for the same colleges.

And this is why elite colleges prefer to take students from schools they have an established relationship with (public or private) where they have an idea of what the policies are.

[Anonymous]

There should be no retakes for anyone. How is it fair if you get an 85% and can't retake, but someone with a 79% can retake and end up with a 90% when you prepared better for the original test? It's not fair. But it's also NUTS to let every student retake. For a motivated student, there's no incentive not to retake unless you got 100%. It's not preparing kids for reality and is reinforcing unhealthy perfectionism and competition, and it's an unfair workload increase for teachers. Don't we all know the research on the benefits of letting kids learn to fail and build resilience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

This really screws over kids who are out sick and miss the first test!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be no retakes for anyone. How is it fair if you get an 85% and can't retake, but someone with a 79% can retake and end up with a 90% when you prepared better for the original test? It's not fair. But it's also NUTS to let every student retake. For a motivated student, there's no incentive not to retake unless you got 100%. It's not preparing kids for reality and is reinforcing unhealthy perfectionism and competition, and it's an unfair workload increase for teachers. Don't we all know the research on the benefits of letting kids learn to fail and build resilience?

You can retake anything below a 100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be no retakes for anyone. How is it fair if you get an 85% and can't retake, but someone with a 79% can retake and end up with a 90% when you prepared better for the original test? It's not fair. But it's also NUTS to let every student retake. For a motivated student, there's no incentive not to retake unless you got 100%. It's not preparing kids for reality and is reinforcing unhealthy perfectionism and competition, and it's an unfair workload increase for teachers. Don't we all know the research on the benefits of letting kids learn to fail and build resilience?

You can retake anything below a 100%

My kid's WH1 teacher told us at BTSN she won't allow retakes for anyone who scores above 80%. This is a FCPS school. Guess teachers can ignore policy and do what they want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be no retakes for anyone. How is it fair if you get an 85% and can't retake, but someone with a 79% can retake and end up with a 90% when you prepared better for the original test? It's not fair. But it's also NUTS to let every student retake. For a motivated student, there's no incentive not to retake unless you got 100%. It's not preparing kids for reality and is reinforcing unhealthy perfectionism and competition, and it's an unfair workload increase for teachers. Don't we all know the research on the benefits of letting kids learn to fail and build resilience?

You can retake anything below a 100%

My kid's WH1 teacher told us at BTSN she won't allow retakes for anyone who scores above 80%. This is a FCPS school. Guess teachers can ignore policy and do what they want.

Did the History Deparment decide that as an entire department? One teach definnitely can not do that while other teachers in that department allow the 100% retake. If this becomes an issue for your student , I'd reach out to teacher again and depending on what they say, you may need to reach out to admin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be no retakes for anyone. How is it fair if you get an 85% and can't retake, but someone with a 79% can retake and end up with a 90% when you prepared better for the original test? It's not fair. But it's also NUTS to let every student retake. For a motivated student, there's no incentive not to retake unless you got 100%. It's not preparing kids for reality and is reinforcing unhealthy perfectionism and competition, and it's an unfair workload increase for teachers. Don't we all know the research on the benefits of letting kids learn to fail and build resilience?

You can retake anything below a 100%

My kid's WH1 teacher told us at BTSN she won't allow retakes for anyone who scores above 80%. This is a FCPS school. Guess teachers can ignore policy and do what they want.

No, we can't. We have been told 6 ways to Sunday that every summative assessment must include an opportunity to earn up to 100% on a reattempt. That could look like test corrections, replacement grades, or retakes, but every student must have the opportunity to get a perfect score the second time around.

For summative assessments, at least one new opportunity to demonstrate proficiency up to 100% shall be provided to any student who completes corrective action determined by the collaborative team.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/grading-and-reporting/secondary/grading-assignments-and-assessments

If your school is not implementing it, please send the screan shot of the website to the administrator managing the WH department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

That's just f'd up and mean. There are a lot of kids who work really hard and who need more time to learn the concepts fully. But since high school classes are on such a rigid timeline (with tests paced out to the day and if you don't know it by then, you're SOL), those kids who could use an extra day or two interacting and learning the material will get screwed every single time with your petty vindictive policy which you put in place just to screw over the kids who are already scoring high who want to retake.

You're punishing the kids who genuinely need the opportunity. It's gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

That's just f'd up and mean. There are a lot of kids who work really hard and who need more time to learn the concepts fully. But since high school classes are on such a rigid timeline (with tests paced out to the day and if you don't know it by then, you're SOL), those kids who could use an extra day or two interacting and learning the material will get screwed every single time with your petty vindictive policy which you put in place just to screw over the kids who are already scoring high who want to retake.

You're punishing the kids who genuinely need the opportunity. It's gross.

+1 it’s against the spirit of what the retakes are supposed to be for. The goal is to get the kids to learn the material, not screw then the second time around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

So disappointing to read all the posts from teachers who are mad at Gatehouse/School Board adults for the policy those adults put in place and their reaction is to take all their anger and put it on the students. If a teacher is at the “I’ll show you” stage of career, not healthy to stay in that job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High school isn't college. I'm tired of hearing that they need to be the same. There are tons of rules and policies that differ between the two. They should not be the same; they serve two very different purposes, two very different populations.

If you want to argue that AP courses should mirror college policies, okay, I guess (but even then I'd argue they aren't the same).

This isn’t the path I want for my own child. I don’t want the school to set low expectations that my child is supposed to magically overcome when she goes to college.

This isn’t preparation at all, and it’s only going to burn through more teachers at a time we can’t afford to lose them.

So you and others that think retakes creates bad habits can tell your kids to not do retakes. As many teachers point out, majority of kids don’t do retakes and if concerned will be unfair to your kid, then play the long game of knowing what may be unfair to your kid now will pay off later when your kid has better medical practice because they get surgeries right the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be no retakes for anyone. How is it fair if you get an 85% and can't retake, but someone with a 79% can retake and end up with a 90% when you prepared better for the original test? It's not fair. But it's also NUTS to let every student retake. For a motivated student, there's no incentive not to retake unless you got 100%. It's not preparing kids for reality and is reinforcing unhealthy perfectionism and competition, and it's an unfair workload increase for teachers. Don't we all know the research on the benefits of letting kids learn to fail and build resilience?

I agree with your first sentence. Retakes shouldn't exist for anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid just got his first test back and did well, but said most kids are retaking anything under 97 so that they can be sure they are in good shape in case the final ends up being hard.

This seems like it is going to push the highly perfectionist crowd to insanity.

I hope the kids that really need the retakes are doing it too.

Interesting that the teachers even allow for retakes if the students get over a certain grade. None of my kid's teachers allow retakes if the original grade is a B or above unless it is a test near the end of the semester where scoring higher would bump their overall semester grade up a letter.

Several of her teachers also require anyone who scores below a C minus to automatically do the retake. A few others require the retake only if the first grade is a D+ or lower.

The current FCPS policy is to allow retakes for any test grade. If your kids are in FCPS, retakes are allowed this year.

This will drive more teachers to quit. A total waste of their time to re-grade exams in the 90s.

No one is retaking tests in the 90s after the first unit. Once work picks up and grades start to level out, kids realize real fast it's not worth their time.

I've been doing retakes to 100 for years (like, 12+) and i always have a ton of high achieving kids want to retake the first test and then it's crickets.

For my AP and Honors classes, about 70% of the student who got a 79% or below did a retake. I prepared two tests as a matter of course.

For my GE classes, retakes were rarely done.

Here’s how I am handling this new policy. The first test will be the regular difficulty. The second test will be incredibly difficult. It will be longer and impossible to finish even for kids with extended time.

I made time to help the kids who wanted to do retakes last year since it was reasonable and they generally seemed very motivated.

No longer. Any makeup tests will not help this year.

That's just f'd up and mean. There are a lot of kids who work really hard and who need more time to learn the concepts fully. But since high school classes are on such a rigid timeline (with tests paced out to the day and if you don't know it by then, you're SOL), those kids who could use an extra day or two interacting and learning the material will get screwed every single time with your petty vindictive policy which you put in place just to screw over the kids who are already scoring high who want to retake.

You're punishing the kids who genuinely need the opportunity. It's gross.

+1 it’s against the spirit of what the retakes are supposed to be for. The goal is to get the kids to learn the material, not screw then the second time around.

Or is the goal simply to inflate grades and ensure high graduation rates?