Should Students Be Allowed to Re-Take Tests?

 

            In this thoughtful article in AMLE Magazine, Pooja Patel (New York City teacher), Darlene Pope (California teacher), and Patricia George (AMLE Magazine editor) debate whether students should be allowed to take a quiz or test again if they’re not satisfied with their grade. George lists the reasons some educators are opposed to the idea:

-    It reduces students’ incentive to prepare well for the initial test.

-    It allows students to treat the first go-round as a pre-test, giving them a heads-up on content and rigor.

-    If full credit is given for re-takes, that’s unfair to students who took the test only once.

-    Allowing re-takes doesn’t prepare students for the real world, where doing your best the first time around is important.

-    It’s a waste of teachers’ time and effort to prepare and grade two sets of tests.

George says some schools have countered these concerns by allowing only one re-take per grading period, requiring students to do re-takes after school, and giving only partial credit for re-takes.

            Patel argues that allowing students to retake tests is an effective way of differentiating instruction, helping students learn from mistakes, motivating students to work harder, and thereby improving achievement. “All students will not reach mastery at the same time,” she says. “If we provide students with only one opportunity to show their understanding, we do not allow all of them to understand to their true capacity… Students thrive in an environment where learning is emphasized, stress is minimal, effort is intrinsic, and students’ needs are met.”

            Pope recalls author/consultant Rick DuFour asking what happens when someone fails a driving test. They take it again, as many times as necessary. And which one counts? The one in which they demonstrated mastery. “This simple analogy spurred me to rethink my position on testing and revise my practice so that my focus was on mastery, not deadlines,” says Pope. “I think we need to remember that when students fail, it is not always just their fault.” When students in her classes don’t do well on assignments or tests, she helps them during the lunch period (or verifies that another adult has worked with them) and allows them to try again. Since she made this shift ten years ago, her students’ achievement on state tests has improved significantly, and she believes their understanding is deeper.

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“Perspectives: Opportunity for a Do-Over” by Pooja Patel, Darlene Pope, and Patricia George AMLE Magazine, March 2014 (Vol. 1, #7, p. 6-7), www.amle.org; Patel and Pope can be reached at pooja979@gmail.com and pope_d@sgusd.k12.ca.us.