This high school test retake policy is wild

[Anonymous]

My policy when I taught at the University was to have 2 midterms and a final. The second midterm would be a few weeks before the final with only an in-class exercise after the midterm, think model UN or a constitutional convention. Students could drop their lowest grade from the three tests, bomb a midterm, prepare to take the final. Happy with your grades on your midterms, don’t take the final. I knew the borderline cases for grades and moved them to the top of the pile to grade. Students who already had A’s and didn’t need to take the final, went to the bottom. It allowed for students to have more time to learn the material and saved me some grading during finals week.

I am not opposed to finding a way to re-test students on material that they struggled with but the existing FCPS policy is too much work for Teachers and encourages kids to not study or ask for help the first time around. I have friends who complain that their kid is lousy with prepping for exams the first time because they know they can take it again. Why put in the effort? Then the kids fall behind a bit while trying to complete the make up work for the retest and don’t do well on the next test.

It is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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?

Shhh. This is supposed to be a secret

[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. I hope the PP give the kids who missed the test because of illness give those kids the original( normal) test, otherwise not at all fair.

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:Evidently it is now FCPS policy. The teachers hate it.

It seems like it would create a crazy amount of work for teachers.

[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.

I can see why teachers would take this approach.

This sounds like what is happening at Langley.

The biggest issue from what my SS has told us is that Saxon Time is now only 45 mins and therefore retakes probably need to be completed in class. This will take away from new instruction time and harms all students so teachers are trying to really really discourage retakes.

[Anonymous]

Teachers under this policy are absolutely permitted to 1) make the new test harder than the first test and 2) tell the kids that if they do worse on the retake test, their score will go down.

These seem like reasonable steps to cut down on the kids who are doing retakes just to boost grades or avoid studying the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Shhh. This is supposed to be a secret

I think it will backfire. Classes are already falling behind as teachers need to give class time for retakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Shhh. This is supposed to be a secret

I think it will backfire. Classes are already falling behind as teachers need to give class time for retakes.

Is this only happening at Langley? Our school has a 90 minute advisory and I would be livid if teachers are not using this time for retakes.

The school board needs to clarify in the policy that a retake will not harm any student who takes it if the retake is lower than the original test grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

My kids' school also has a 90 minute advisory, but they can only flex in/out for the first 45 minutes of most class periods, and then head to a scheduled class for the second 45 minutes.

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?

Shhh. This is supposed to be a secret

I think it will backfire. Classes are already falling behind as teachers need to give class time for retakes.

Is this only happening at Langley? Our school has a 90 minute advisory and I would be livid if teachers are not using this time for retakes.

The school board needs to clarify in the policy that a retake will not harm any student who takes it if the retake is lower than the original test grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Shhh. This is supposed to be a secret

I think it will backfire. Classes are already falling behind as teachers need to give class time for retakes.

Is this only happening at Langley? Our school has a 90 minute advisory and I would be livid if teachers are not using this time for retakes.

The school board needs to clarify in the policy that a retake will not harm any student who takes it if the retake is lower than the original test grade.

But this is not the policy. Retakes can absolutely lower a grade. Some teacher choose not to implement that.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand the retakes - so now they already know the questions and go back and answer it and get everything right?

[Anonymous]

Not in Fairfax but at my kid's school, retakes were averaged with the initial test score. So kids with high grades wouldn't want to risk lowering their grade and those with lower initial tests couldn't out perform those that did well the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the retakes - so now they already know the questions and go back and answer it and get everything right?

No, I have to write 4 versions of every test (different MC questions, different essay questions, different application problems, etc)

Version A/B for in class because kids are packed so tightly there is no way to prevent wandering eyeballs.

Version C as a retake/“I was absent on test day” version for anyone who does the retake within 2 weeks.

Version D for students who missed test day, took the retake as their first attempt, and now need a retake, or who decide in June they want to retake unit 1 (we have to let them). Version D is never handed back so I can use it for retakes the remainder of the year.

It is extraordinarily difficult in some units to write four exams of equal difficulty that aren’t just asking the same thing with different numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the retakes - so now they already know the questions and go back and answer it and get everything right?

No, I have to write 4 versions of every test (different MC questions, different essay questions, different application problems, etc)

Version A/B for in class because kids are packed so tightly there is no way to prevent wandering eyeballs.

Version C as a retake/“I was absent on test day” version for anyone who does the retake within 2 weeks.

Version D for students who missed test day, took the retake as their first attempt, and now need a retake, or who decide in June they want to retake unit 1 (we have to let them). Version D is never handed back so I can use it for retakes the remainder of the year.

It is extraordinarily difficult in some units to write four exams of equal difficulty that aren’t just asking the same thing with different numbers.

Why are you making the retakes “equal difficulty”?

Save yourself the trouble and get a reputation for only giving retakes that are impossible. And announce that anyone who does a retake needs to accept that grade even if it’s lower. After a few hard lessons, no student will dare approach you for a retake. Then you do not need to ever create retakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the retakes - so now they already know the questions and go back and answer it and get everything right?

No, I have to write 4 versions of every test (different MC questions, different essay questions, different application problems, etc)

Version A/B for in class because kids are packed so tightly there is no way to prevent wandering eyeballs.

Version C as a retake/“I was absent on test day” version for anyone who does the retake within 2 weeks.

Version D for students who missed test day, took the retake as their first attempt, and now need a retake, or who decide in June they want to retake unit 1 (we have to let them). Version D is never handed back so I can use it for retakes the remainder of the year.

It is extraordinarily difficult in some units to write four exams of equal difficulty that aren’t just asking the same thing with different numbers.

Why are you making the retakes “equal difficulty”?

Save yourself the trouble and get a reputation for only giving retakes that are impossible. And announce that anyone who does a retake needs to accept that grade even if it’s lower. After a few hard lessons, no student will dare approach you for a retake. Then you do not need to ever create retakes.

Either this or just make your tests so easy that As are easy to achieve. Either way you need to stop doing so much or you will burn out before Halloween.