I think CA is moving to a retest-type grading environment. It’s called grading for mastery. There is a recent thread with info and ideas about this approach. We’re in the CA Bay Area and there are no retests.
You could argue that kids are allowed to take a standardized test as many times as they like until they reach the score they like so why not a test for a grade?
Having gone to school in Europe this is all so strange to me. But different countries have different educational models and problems. I’m not an expert and do not know what the answer is.
I am in the same boat (being educated in the different country). Current turn of events on grading and test optional policies is a very foreign concept to me (pun intended). I have my ideas but better keep it to myself (I am a product of the type of the education that will be considered abuse here, I guess). We are almost at the finish line with my D22 and after that I have no horse in this race.
Belated thanks to you as well. We have a soft spot for Fordham as well, as my wife got her MBA there and I went to high school with one of the deans. No bad outcome for S22, and we genuinely mean it. What’s meant to be will be.
Why not retest for a grade? Well, because many times I think the retake test is exactly the same as the original test and that’s nuts. Our high school does not allow retesting. Our middle schools do but you can’t retake unless you got below an 80 and then, even if you get 100 on the retake, the highest grade that can go in the grade book is an 80.
I wish there wasn’t retesting; that’s not how real life works! The school claims it’s to make sure the kids know the material, but honestly, it just frustrates my son since he makes sure he can get a good grade the first time he takes a test! All it does, in his opinion (and mine), is make students more lazy.
As far as I know at out HS there’s no distinction between the kids who re-take and those that don’t. Thankfully, my son knows the kids ranked above him in his class are not the kids who retake tests, or he’d be pretty ticked off to be ranked lower than a retaker! (We are in TX, so rank is important. He’s 9 out of 400 and has his auto-admit spot to UT, but he earned it the old fashioned way… studying!)
@UCDProf Check with the school about the deadline to convert to ED because sometimes it’s quite a bit after the deadline for application submission. My D20 converted her RD application to ED2 for a school and the conversion deadline wasn’t until February 1 (posted ED2 submission deadline was Jan 15). She had submitted her RD app in December then decided in late January to convert to ED2. That would give you time to get the counselor’s ED agreement signed after the break if your D/S’s potential ED school is similar.
Re: Re-testing. Our school doesn’t re-test, but it seems to me that the point of school is to educate kids not make sure they’re ranked properly compared to other students. If re-testing helps some kids master the material, by all means, re-test. Especially if the highest mark they can get is an 80, their re-test isn’t going to take away from other kids’ As and Bs. And nothing about high school is like “the real world.” I say if it’s going to help kids graduate with an actual education then let them re-test.
I am not sure if this has been answered before- but what is the approximate % of ED admits that pull out of ED due to the NPC not being accurate? Just curious- he didn’t ED and are full pay so we wanted to see our options for merit.
Congratulations to all D/S22 who have heard good news in the EA/ED round!
My D22 took a couple of months off after submitting her REA application to focus on her Oxbridge application - first on the entrance exam and, after fortunately securing an interview invitation, on the no-chit-chat-all-substance interviews, which finished this afternoon. Her mood has lightened considerably since then - it’s been quite an exhausting process.
Over the next 2 weeks, she’ll work on her remaining 2-3 US college applications - she has made good progress on one so hopefully she can relax a bit over the holidays.
Well, isn’t it? I mean I get plenty of second chances in my life. I’m sure it’s different depending on your profession, but isn’t life more like an open book test for most people and an ongoing process of learning rather than a high stakes make or break on a test? I know when I am trying to learn something new I try, try, try again until I get it right.
My kids’ school doesn’t do re-tests , but individual teachers may allow corrections. You can’t get up to a 100 that way, but you can improve a grade.
Some math classes (depends on level or teacher I think) offer retesting at our school, but the highest you can get is 85 if you get a perfect score. If you test lower than orginal score, you get the new score, not an average. My kids usually do not opt to retest because they are usually not actually failing the test, and are worried about getting even lower result.
In middle school, they had four chances to perfect math skills quizzes. The point was mastery, not the exact moment you mastered it but that you eventually did. Less motivated kids sometimes didn’t even take advantage of this, either. Higher level math does not offer this in the high school.
In my kids’ experiences, retakes have never involved the same test. Retesting up to a 70 just helps ingrain the material and helps you pass. If you get lower on the retake, that’s what counts. However, if you know you’re bombing it, you get up and toss the test.
Retaking to 100 is what’s silly. It’s certainly extra work for the teachers. The TAG kids also do more project based work and less testing. If kids retake and get extra grade points, so be it.
And like many colleges, seniors who have at least an 80 in a class don’t have to take the final.
That’s quite fair… I give people second chances all the time. Now, I’m much more understanding when I know they tried their best and it’s all about learning…
More than anything, I don’t see how the retesting abuse, along with schoolwork having no real deadlines (except for the end of the quarter/semester) being really helpful to prepare kids to go on to work/college.
Funny to read about all this re-testing. The only time we’ve run into this was last year when S22’s honors chem teacher let kids re-test several times. She was really checked out and tons of kids were failing the exams - and by significant margins. That’s the only time I’ve heard of re-testing in 4 years at the high school. Also, no extra credit - at least not in honors/AP classes.
No, I don’t expect schools to give this advice - quite surprised that any does. But the “apply test optional below the median” advice has been widely dispensed here, by admissions counselors. and is an auto-reply to any post mentioning SAT scores on Reddit forums.
If that continued, it would asymptomatically approach 1600…
Our school allows test corrections, where you can submit the answers again (once) for re-grading. You are eligible to raise the grade by half of the missed scores.
So if you bombed and got a 60, but then diligently submitted all corrections, you would get an 80. If you made a 90 the first time, you could move up to a 95 with perfect corrections. Obs if some of your corrections are wrong, you can’t earn as much.