Ah, test day. What once filled me with so much dread as a student, makes me giddy and excited as a teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good class session where I can get caught up on my work, but I get excited for test day mainly because I get to see how much my students know. Formative assessments are fine, but a good test can really measure how much the students have learned (as long as they are well written, but we can get into that later).
I want my students to also see test days as a chance to measure their learning, and for them to learn from the problems they did not get correct. How do I give them this mindset? Test Reassessments.
Reassessments tend to get lumped in with the standards based grading movement (which is a fun conversation I will have another time!) but reassessments do not have to be limited to classrooms who only have implemented standards based grading. I have found great success implementing my reassessment policy in classrooms that have not yet transitioned into standards based grading.
Here is the main point I tell people when they ask why I have reassessments in my classroom:
Reassessments can help change the classroom learning culture from “how many points do I need to do well on the test” to students asking “what do I have to learn in order to do well on the test”.
Our whole goal as teachers is to teach; who cares if they take longer to do it, as long as they learn! Now, that is definitely an oversimplification of reassessments, so let’s get down to the arguments against reassessments:
Myth #1: It will increase my workload.
Great point! Teachers are so pressed for time as it is, the idea of grading even MORE tests (not to mention making them) sounds very stressful. I totally agree and when I set out on my reassessment journey, I made sure I did what I could to avoid this extra stress. Here are some of the things that worked for me:
Students don’t have to retake the entire test; if they have already shown me that they have learned something on the test, I am all for not having them do it again. My students only have to reassess on the parts of the test that they missed.
Does that mean you have to make a new and unique test for each student who wants to reassess? That sounds like it is adding even more to your workload! What I do instead, I make a single reassessment test and when a student wants to reassess, I just have them do the problems that they missed. Each question has a purpose and a learning objective I wanted the students to demonstrate mastery on. If a student didn’t get it correct on the original test, they will get a different question but that question will be related to the same learning objective.
Here is an example of a System of Equations test from my Algebra I class:
#1 – Solve a system by graphing with both equations in slope-intercept form
#2 – Solve a system by graphing with both equations in standard form
#3 – Solve a system by substitution with both equations in slope-intercept form
#4 – Solve a system by substitution with one equation in slope-intercept form and one equation in standard form
#5 – Solve a system by elimination with both equations in standard form (no manipulation)
#6 – Solve a system by elimination with both equations in standard form (manipulation)
#7-12 – Solve a system using an appropriate method
#13 – Real world problem with substitution
#14 – Real world problem with elimination
You can see how each question in my test has a learning objective attached to it. Depending on what problems my students missed, I am able to see where they need help and it really helps ME create their reassessment. The reassessment I create would have this same layout and number of questions, but if a student only missed problems #5, 7, 9, 13, and 14, those would be the only questions they have to redo on the reassessment. I would just cross off the questions they didn’t have to do – I would NOT print unique tests because who has time for that???
The biggest idea I implement to help students and myself when reassessing is placing some requirements in place to reassess. In my class, it looks like this:
- Students get their tests back and they can keep them.
- If they want to reassess, they first need to do two things:
- Make sure all homework is completed for that unit (I accept late work)
- Do test corrections on a separate sheet of paper.
- These two things help the students further their learning, but they also place some responsibility on the student to learn. If students are struggling with the material, I have “office hours” every week where they can come in and get one on one help.
- When they are ready to reassess, they bring their tests and test corrections to me, we talk about any issues I see with the corrections (I question them just enough to make sure they really do know what they are doing now)
- Then I ask for their original test and I cross off any questions on the reassessment they got correct on their original test. This leaves just the questions they only got incorrect left. Any points they get on their reassessment will be added back in on their original test.
- If the student did not keep track of their original test, they can reassess on the whole test again and I will take their reassessment score.
This flow works really well for me and it has not increased my workload in a meaningful way at all. The key to implementing your own reassessment policy is to find something that works for you!
Myth #2: Students need to be prepared for the real world
As teachers, I totally agree when other well-meaning teachers say this. Our role is not only to teach them content, but of course to teach them time management, organization, and all those other “soft skills” that get thrown around.
BUT, I think that reassessments happen ALL THE TIME in the “real world” and it is important for us as teachers to model the appropriate response to disappointment (i.e., a poor test score) and show them that they are ways to recover.
For example, I get evaluated every year as a teacher. If I have a bad evaluation, I am not a bad teacher, it just means I had a bad lesson/day/week, WHATEVER, but I get a second, third, and forth chance from my administration to show them that I do know what I am doing and I deserve to keep my job.
For a student, I have this same belief. Students deserve to have the opportunity of redemption and for some, it just takes longer to learn and understand content and I do not want to punish them for that.
There is of course, a balance. We teach the content in the sequence we have it for a reason. Content builds on itself and if a student doesn’t grasp the information from Unit 1, they might not be able to succeed in Unit 2. This is sometimes bigger than the classroom; we need to make sure we have tiers in place for student intervention, whatever that might look like.
Keep in mind too, students are not adults. However much high schoolers might dress or try to act like adults, they are still students who are learning. They are going through real stressors at home, socially, academically, and should be given grace and met with understanding when expectations are not met. They key is helping them learn from that!
If you are still not convinced, try to start small:
- Restrict the time they are allowed to reassess (2 weeks after the unit test)
- They have to come in on their own time and are not allowed to reassess in class
- Limited number of reassessments allowed (only 2 per semester)
Myth #3: Students will take advantage of the policy
We set expectations in our classroom to provide structure and learning opportunities for our students. It is expected that most students will fall short of these expectations at one time or another. We have to be there to show them how to handle not meeting expectations: how can they make up for it; and how they can mentally handle the stress of not doing well.
Now that we have gone over the myths of reassessments, let’s talk about the benefits!
Benefit #1: You + Students against the Curriculum
What I love about allowing reassessments is that it places the students and me on a team against the curriculum. It is the curriculum that we are trying to “own” together. In a traditional, non-reassessment class, it always felt like it was me against them; I set the deadline and I would not allow them to change their grade after the test day. What reassessments also allow for it the ability for a student to continue their learning past the test date, when without reassessments, that learning would have ended on test day!
Benefit #2: Student ownership
I do not require reassessments at all. It is completely on the students to decide they want to do better, and then it is on them to start making that happen. I am here for them with questions and help but the work and effort is all on the student. This provides a great venue for student advocacy and ownership over their own learning.
Benefit #3: Students and parents relax
I talked at the beginning of this article about how as a student, I was always anxious when test day came around. I stressed myself out so much, that it would sometimes not allow me to show what I knew (I actually cried in the middle of a pre-calc test on the unit circle). Reassessments do help with the stress some students put on themselves before test day.
It also helps with the conversations I’ve had with parents! When I have to make those tough phone calls with parents about students who are not meeting our learning expectations, I love being able to tell them that I allow reassessments. This, again, puts the ownership of the learning back on the student. They want their child to succeed too, and reassessments allow that to happen.
Benefit #4: YOU feel better about teaching!
I feel like I have become a MUCH better teacher since switching to reassessments in my classroom. I allow students to continue learning and I am there providing support and help along the way. I feel less like a dictator in the classroom and more like a learning ally.
Is this article over yet?? Where do I go from here?
Start small. You don’t have to start your school year implementing standards based grading with students being able to reassess everything. Give yourself some manageable goals and go from there.
If you have anything to add to the conversation, please comment below! I would love to keep this discussion going and learn from your experiences as well. Teaching feels better when we do it together!
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