This high school test retake policy is wild

[Anonymous]

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.

This is district policy now. Retakes up to 100%. Most teachers think it's a terrible idea but what do they know.

Of course it is a terrible idea. My oldest is at TJ and this nutso “higher A” retake madness was exactly my thought when I saw the policy announced. They are going to have to change it. It is going to drive teachers insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the point of school to learn. In theory, students should be able to master the material. If they don’t get a 100% then they didn’t master it. I think the idea of retaking a test forces them to learn the material again which is a good thing. Getting a good foundation of knowledge is better than just taking a test to see where you are.

At most kids should be allowed to retest up to 90%. The problem is the huge burden all this retesting and regrading puts on teachers. Entirely unfair to them plus it ratchets up the pressure on kids that are perfectionists to shoot for 100 rather than be glad they got a 92/94 the first go round.

[Anonymous]

is this on college transcripts? how embarassing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

My DD is a freshman at a state university. No retakes in any of her classes on any of her assignments. 33% penalties for late work (1 day late) in her STEM courses.

So these policies are horrible for college prep. I feel bad for the teachers who have to deal with this extra workload, and I feel bad for the college professors who are inevitably going to deal with this entitlement.

[Anonymous]

They need to end retakes completely. It's an unfair demand on teachers and it makes GPAs meaningless.

[Anonymous]

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.

I thought you could only retake if it was lower than an 80%? Did that change?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is such a stupid policy and a real slap in the face to teachers at a time we should be improving their job not making it harder. Also what does it do to gpas? For the first time I am saying what I see on here all the time - I am glad I am almost done with fcps.

-parent of 2 fcps grads and one fcps senior

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

Hey genius. She has a 4.0 uw and the policy just started this year. She couldn't do this before. I shared it to say she's a good student who cares about grades and will now use this policy to her advantage. Not afraid she's unprepared. She got those grades without a retake policy. It used to be only under 80 can retake and she's never gotten under 80. Also, I'm not sure what school your kids go to but at hers retakes require test corrections and then a retake. If it was so easy everyone would do it but 2 teachers on here said every kid doesn't. Try to keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

Hey genius. She has a 4.0 uw and the policy just started this year. She couldn't do this before. I shared it to say she's a good student who cares about grades and will now use this policy to her advantage. Not afraid she's unprepared. She got those grades without a retake policy. It used to be only under 80 can retake and she's never gotten under 80. Also, I'm not sure what school your kids go to but at hers retakes require test corrections and then a retake. If it was so easy everyone would do it but 2 teachers on here said every kid doesn't. Try to keep up.

I posted above. I’m the mother of the college freshman dealing with actual consequences this year. I am extremely grateful she wasn’t crippled with this policy. You’ve already admitted that your DD is going to exploit this policy. So she’ll get a short term gain, but she won’t learn that she needs to do things properly the first and final time.

I’m also a teacher. Your daughter is causing a tremendous amount of extra work for already overtaxed teachers. I’m fully expecting this policy will drive more from the profession. Teachers lack the time to offer these unnecessary retests for A students, so this actually comes across as disrespectful.

So it’s lose - lose all around so you can get a couple more points on a test. And as for college admissions, colleges receive a summary sheet of district policies. They’ll know students’ As aren’t that authentic.

[Anonymous]

Colleges will get that sheet whether she engages in the practice or not. So why not use the practice. Otherwise colleges get it and see she has an A- and wonder what's wrong with her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Colleges will get that sheet whether she engages in the practice or not. So why not use the practice. Otherwise colleges get it and see she has an A- and wonder what's wrong with her.

Or she can get an A and colleges will simply assume it’s the product of retests. That’s not good, either. It’s a signal to colleges that the district overinflates grades and the students may not be prepared for actual consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

Hey genius. She has a 4.0 uw and the policy just started this year. She couldn't do this before. I shared it to say she's a good student who cares about grades and will now use this policy to her advantage. Not afraid she's unprepared. She got those grades without a retake policy. It used to be only under 80 can retake and she's never gotten under 80. Also, I'm not sure what school your kids go to but at hers retakes require test corrections and then a retake. If it was so easy everyone would do it but 2 teachers on here said every kid doesn't. Try to keep up.

Sorry, no need to be so defensive, my kid isn’t in the district. I just find the whole policy wild. Your kid has a 4.0 in FCPS, which is very different than having a 4.0 in a more rigorous district (sorry).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

Hey genius. She has a 4.0 uw and the policy just started this year. She couldn't do this before. I shared it to say she's a good student who cares about grades and will now use this policy to her advantage. Not afraid she's unprepared. She got those grades without a retake policy. It used to be only under 80 can retake and she's never gotten under 80. Also, I'm not sure what school your kids go to but at hers retakes require test corrections and then a retake. If it was so easy everyone would do it but 2 teachers on here said every kid doesn't. Try to keep up.

Sorry, no need to be so defensive, my kid isn’t in the district. I just find the whole policy wild. Your kid has a 4.0 in FCPS, which is very different than having a 4.0 in a more rigorous district (sorry).

DP. And this is exactly my point. Why would you want to encourage a practice that can hurt you when it comes to college admissions?

I graduated from FCPS decades ago. I had standards I had to meet. Where are those standards now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love the policy. My kid jwho is a unior has an uw 4.0. She says she will retake anything below 93.5. She's a good student and if that makes her happy so be it. I like the determination.

Of course she has a 4.0! 😂
Aren’t you concerned she is unprepared for challenges ahead? It is very easy to retake a test. It’s not particularly difficult to do and it’s not a testament to grit.

Hey genius. She has a 4.0 uw and the policy just started this year. She couldn't do this before. I shared it to say she's a good student who cares about grades and will now use this policy to her advantage. Not afraid she's unprepared. She got those grades without a retake policy. It used to be only under 80 can retake and she's never gotten under 80. Also, I'm not sure what school your kids go to but at hers retakes require test corrections and then a retake. If it was so easy everyone would do it but 2 teachers on here said every kid doesn't. Try to keep up.

I posted above. I’m the mother of the college freshman dealing with actual consequences this year. I am extremely grateful she wasn’t crippled with this policy. You’ve already admitted that your DD is going to exploit this policy. So she’ll get a short term gain, but she won’t learn that she needs to do things properly the first and final time.

I’m also a teacher. Your daughter is causing a tremendous amount of extra work for already overtaxed teachers. I’m fully expecting this policy will drive more from the profession. Teachers lack the time to offer these unnecessary retests for A students, so this actually comes across as disrespectful.

So it’s lose - lose all around so you can get a couple more points on a test. And as for college admissions, colleges receive a summary sheet of district policies. They’ll know students’ As aren’t that authentic.

Also she never used retakes before. Not sure why people keep missing that. So she knows how to do well the fiest time. And now she will continue to do well the first time and then do even better the second. If she gets a 92 she aims for at least 93.5. Basically she want an A nothing less. It could be she never needs a retake but she will use it if she gets an A- or lower.