Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math, and I love the effect of retakes. Students actually care about their grades now. Before retakes, a kid would fail a test, trash it, and walk out of the room and forget about it.

Now, they fail the test, and immediately ask what they did wrong, if they can have extra practice on the topic, and what I suggest they do to prepare for the retake. My after school sessions are packed with kids trying to solidify their learning. It's not free points--they have to do a remediation assignment, and retake a second version of a full length test after school. They are learning. My end of year state scores are higher than before, study habits are improving, and kids are more engaged.

You shouldn't have to stay after school to do this.

Of all the things I'm expected to do after school, this is the one I can most get behind. I teach in a school where the majority of students doing have access to private tutors, and mom/dad may or may not (likely may not) be able to help them with homework. After school allows kids who want to succeed the ability to be successful.

Don't get me wrong, if the school provided free, high quality tutors to all students then I'd be happy to give it up...but that's not in the budget, and is never going to happen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of retakes. I attended private school. My oldest is in MS and has been in private since PreK. No retakes have ever been offered. She is required to correct all errors on homework, quizzes and tests. She is an "A" student, but works really hard for those grades. How do HS and colleges know who was given multiple times to earn a grade vs. only once? I wonder why some areas offer this and some don't. It should be a standard policy in public schools.

People hear this and think it is something other than what it is. At our middle school, you can only have a do-over if you get a D, and that will never get you to an A. My DC never got a re-take. Also, no re-takes at all on classes that count for high school credit. And colleges don't care about middle school grades.

Don't worry. Your Private school A student is not at a disadvantage because a public school D student has a second chance to get a C.

But just because that's how your middle school chooses to do it, that doesn't make it universal. At my daughter's middle school[i][u] some teachers allow retakes for B's and under, some only for C's and under. Some average the two grades, some take the highest. How is this fair, when calculating class rankings? And how are colleges supposed to make any sense of the grades?

I feel quite certain no college cares about your daughter's middle school class rank (is that even a thing?)

My son's private school has recess so teachers are required to rotate recess duty. Twice a week, they have "office hours" instead of recess duty so students are encouraged to go to their teacher during their office hours. They can always arrange for after-school help with a teacher.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your opinion on this? 4th grade or really any grade around that age. Should teachers always offer retakes to individual students?

no

MCPS works that in - reteach/reassess - which is BS. So most teachers who place onus on the students are not enablers.

If I failed to do well on a test, I'd see my teacher. We'd review the material, and I'd learn it myself, knowing it was a building block toward something greater.

It's called being responsible for one's own learning.

And when would you expect your teacher to see you? During her lunch, planning period, or after school when she should be living her own life?

Anonymous wrote:Really hope colleges are aware of which schools offer retakes as a matter of policy vs just being temporarily offered to single students for extreme cases of personal hardship.

They aren't. However, re-takes are quite common in schools now. It's the new educational fad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of retakes. I attended private school. My oldest is in MS and has been in private since PreK. No retakes have ever been offered. She is required to correct all errors on homework, quizzes and tests. She is an "A" student, but works really hard for those grades. How do HS and colleges know who was given multiple times to earn a grade vs. only once? I wonder why some areas offer this and some don't. It should be a standard policy in public schools.

People hear this and think it is something other than what it is. At our middle school, you can only have a do-over if you get a D, and that will never get you to an A. My DC never got a re-take. Also, no re-takes at all on classes that count for high school credit. And colleges don't care about middle school grades.

Don't worry. Your Private school A student is not at a disadvantage because a public school D student has a second chance to get a C.

But just because that's how your middle school chooses to do it, that doesn't make it universal. At my daughter's middle school some teachers allow retakes for B's and under, some only for C's and under. Some average the two grades, some take the highest. How is this fair, when calculating class rankings? And how are colleges supposed to make any sense of the grades?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a third grade teacher and I don’t offer retakes.

I'm betting you are over 50, OP.

The idea of a rigid "sink or swim" approach to childhood education is very Old School. Is the goal to evaluate performance or to gain mastery of a concept or idea?
If your goal is mastery, then retake-retake-retake UNTIL mastery is the name of the game. If it's just to tick the Pass/Fail box and give a gold star to the kids who got it on the first go (either by studying or b/c they didn't need to!) then that is a completely different system.

I don't have a problem with the concept of retakes. I have a problem with the expectation that teachers should give up their lunches, planning periods, time after school to reteach and re offer these retakes. If administration wants retakes, let them hire people to rewrite tests and stay after school to give them. Stop dumping more work on teachers. And teachers stop being doormats and letting them pile this work on you!

Sounds like the bad teachers want to improve their test scores because it reflects on their performance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a third grade teacher and I don’t offer retakes.

I'm betting you are over 50, OP.

The idea of a rigid "sink or swim" approach to childhood education is very Old School. Is the goal to evaluate performance or to gain mastery of a concept or idea?
If your goal is mastery, then retake-retake-retake UNTIL mastery is the name of the game. If it's just to tick the Pass/Fail box and give a gold star to the kids who got it on the first go (either by studying or b/c they didn't need to!) then that is a completely different system.

I don't have a problem with the concept of retakes. I have a problem with the expectation that teachers should give up their lunches, planning periods, time after school to reteach and re offer these retakes. If administration wants retakes, let them hire people to rewrite tests and stay after school to give them. Stop dumping more work on teachers. And teachers stop being doormats and letting them pile this work on you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always thought retake culture was a scam in awful schools to inflate grades and keep annoying parents and kids off schools’ backs.

But then an elite local private Dean said he believes in retakes, so idk what to believe anymore.

What makes you think an elite local private wouldn't want to inflate grades and keep annoying parents and kids off the teachers' backs?

I had this same thought as well.

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math, and I love the effect of retakes. Students actually care about their grades now. Before retakes, a kid would fail a test, trash it, and walk out of the room and forget about it.

Now, they fail the test, and immediately ask what they did wrong, if they can have extra practice on the topic, and what I suggest they do to prepare for the retake. My after school sessions are packed with kids trying to solidify their learning. It's not free points--they have to do a remediation assignment, and retake a second version of a full length test after school. They are learning. My end of year state scores are higher than before, study habits are improving, and kids are more engaged.

You shouldn't have to stay after school to do this.

Anonymous wrote:What’s your opinion on this? 4th grade or really any grade around that age. Should teachers always offer retakes to individual students?

no

MCPS works that in - reteach/reassess - which is BS. So most teachers who place onus on the students are not enablers.

If I failed to do well on a test, I'd see my teacher. We'd review the material, and I'd learn it myself, knowing it was a building block toward something greater.

It's called being responsible for one's own learning.

Really hope colleges are aware of which schools offer retakes as a matter of policy vs just being temporarily offered to single students for extreme cases of personal hardship.

^^ Me again.

We're in AACPS and here's the official policy for middle and high schools. (There's no official policy from the district that I can find for Elementary schools, so my son's rules must be from the Principal, because they've been consistent for 2nd - 4th grades so far)
https://www.aacps.org/Page/1634

In a nutshell:
Students shall have one additional opportunity to improve their scores on each of at least three (3) but no more than five (5) of the total graded qualifying assessments, activities, or assignments which demonstrate knowledge of course content, skills, and standards and count toward a student’s marking period grade.

Students may choose which assessments, activities, and assignments they re-take, in accord with the opportunity for mastery provision of this Regulation, except for the following which are not qualifying assessments, activities, or assignments:
Homework
Quarterly Assessments
Multi-component research projects or multi-component written papers (components of the project or paper that are graded separately may be a qualifying assignment)
Assessments, activities, or assignments completed during the last week of the marking period.
After an opportunity for mastery is graded, the higher grade shall be the grade of record.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of retakes. I attended private school. My oldest is in MS and has been in private since PreK. No retakes have ever been offered. She is required to correct all errors on homework, quizzes and tests. She is an "A" student, but works really hard for those grades. How do HS and colleges know who was given multiple times to earn a grade vs. only once? I wonder why some areas offer this and some don't. It should be a standard policy in public schools.

People hear this and think it is something other than what it is. At our middle school, you can only have a do-over if you get a D, and that will never get you to an A. My DC never got a re-take. Also, no re-takes at all on classes that count for high school credit. And colleges don't care about middle school grades.

Don't worry. Your Private school A student is not at a disadvantage because a public school D student has a second chance to get a C.

A PP just went into great detail about how her B/C student son retakes tests and gets As. So clearly there's some 'discrepancy' about how these policies are applied.

FWIW I think the idea of retaking a test and getting an A is outrageous.

That was me. My son's in 4th grade. In his school, kids are allowed up to two retakes per quarter per class (so 2 for science, 2 for math, etc.) There's no limit on what grades qualify for a retake, and they completely replace the previous grade. To make it even worse for you guys, some of the redos are done at home, with parental assistance.

I have no idea what his middle school policy on retakes will be, and don't think it's a big deal in middle school either way. I'll make him do it if it's available, and won't be upset if it's not available. I can't bring myself to get worked up over middle school grades.
High school, where grades are more important for college admission, I completely understand the concern about retakes and would hope they would be used very judiciously, if at all. (But you have made me curious, and now I'm off to research the official high school retake policy...)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of retakes. I attended private school. My oldest is in MS and has been in private since PreK. No retakes have ever been offered. She is required to correct all errors on homework, quizzes and tests. She is an "A" student, but works really hard for those grades. How do HS and colleges know who was given multiple times to earn a grade vs. only once? I wonder why some areas offer this and some don't. It should be a standard policy in public schools.

People hear this and think it is something other than what it is. At our middle school, you can only have a do-over if you get a D, and that will never get you to an A. My DC never got a re-take. Also, no re-takes at all on classes that count for high school credit. And colleges don't care about middle school grades.

Don't worry. Your Private school A student is not at a disadvantage because a public school D student has a second chance to get a C.

A PP just went into great detail about how her B/C student son retakes tests and gets As. So clearly there's some 'discrepancy' about how these policies are applied.

FWIW I think the idea of retaking a test and getting an A is outrageous.