Reply to APS Retake Policy change announced

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Reply to "APS Retake Policy change announced"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think people who say kids were “exploiting” or “abusing” the policy are somewhat incorrect. The policy was that kids were alllowed to re-take tests/summative assessments, and that’s what kids were doing. They were using the policy as stated. Aps should have been more thoughtful in their statement of the policy, but kids were not misusing it. Additionally, there were a few teachers who were not really using the policy in the spirit it was intended. I think teachers (adults) who are trying to game the systems is much shadier. For example- one teacher changed all of their tests to quizzes (which cannot be made up) and were say 98 pts instead of 100. Then they just gave one huge test at the end of the quarter. The “quizzes” were essentially tests- in the previous year they were but this year they were just “quizzes.” Or teachers who create a huge barrier of busy work that they will not go over or meet to help you with before you can re-take the test. The busy work has no bearing on learning- it’s just gatekeeping. Or a teacher who won’t let kids re-take the test until a month after the initial test to “see if you are really going to study.” I find this kind of passive aggressive distortion of the policy to be more egregious.

Additionally, I think the “there are no re-takes or do overs in the real world” reasoning is not true. Sure there are fireable offenses or people who make big mistakes. But people ask bosses for extra time or prioritize one task over another knowing that they can go back and improve the task that they back burnered. You can ask for an extension on filing your taxes. You can go to office hours at college and get help with assignments or talk about an extension in extreme situations. You can get an “incomplete” and finish a course later. You can take a course pass/fail. Life is filled with opportunities. It’s not as extreme as people are suggesting. The people who want kids to “understand the real world” are the same people who are walking uphill to school and back home🙄[/quote]

Agree. However, changing "tests" to "quizzes" is not a problem per se. All those quizzes should be periodic checks and preparation for the quarterly test. IF the teacher and students use the quizzes properly, they would be using them to learn what they still need to learn and review and correct missed questions, etc. The teacher "could" give points for making the test corrections to help make-up for lower grades. But it should all be geared toward increasing understanding and optimizing preparation for tests.  The problem isn't the policy, it's not implementing instruction appropriately.

Busy work without review or purpose, not meeting with students to give extra help, just "waiting and seeing" a month:  all are purely lazy non-teaching. Unacceptable; but sadly not uncommon. It doesn't adhere to the policy, it doesn't adhere to the spirit of the policy, it doesn't align with the spirit of high-quality or effective teaching.

You have some good points about the no do-overs in life myth. However, those are specific and only "sometimes" opportunities. You don't get unlimited deadlines and retakes on everything all the time, as has been the practice in APS lately. You have to learn what things and when you might have a second chance are. And many of the examples you cite are not without consequences or effects. On the contrary, students are learning that it does apply all the time and there are no consequences. [/quote]

I fully understand that quizzes can be helpful. But when a teacher gives an end of unit “quiz” and moves on to new content. And when students ask if it’s eligible for a re-take and the teacher responds “no because it’s a quiz.” I think we all know what’s happening.

Also, I think this is again falling into the myth that “kids today don’t realize the value of hard work” idea is over blown. Yes, above are some isolated examples. But I think the idea that the vast majority of kids that are re-taking are just kids that aren’t really working hard and just taking the easy way out is  not true.  Maybe at first kids were overly “re-take happy.” But kids can see a pattern with the re-takes. Kids will not continue to retake if they don’t find success. Kids will also see that they are continuously getting the same score even after retaking if they don’t study. They will course correct. I think what happened was that it was an increased workload on teachers that aps was not ready for. APS can sometimes be too knee jerk in their policy shifts. But instead of re-evaluating and trying to do what’s best for students AND teachers and make some tweaks like a better testing center system, mandating quality remediation and using lunch time math and English time more successfully and efficiently, they made another knee jerk decision and gutted the policy to the detriment of the students. [/quote]

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