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I believe in allowing students to do corrections following a poor performance on a quiz, sometimes a test, as I require them to write the full question and correct answer, using their notes, twice. I have had students share that through this process they realized that they should rewrite their notes when they study the first time. I think retakes should be on a student-by-student basis and not a broad policy - anxiety can be a factor, as can family issues that prevented studying. On the occasion when I have allowed a retake I take the first score and the second and average them - I have seen over the years that many middle school students will look for ways around work and I don't want them to feel that they can skim their notes and then redo the test once they have seen the questions - this would be unfair to students who put time into studying in the first place. MD

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This article definitely highlights a question that I find myself trying to deal with. I have in the past allowed full re-takes as well as re-takes where the two grades are averaged together.

I think the bigger problem here is the focus on grades over the focus on learning. Students, more than ever, seem to be obsessed with their scores more so than their progress. Most students are terrified of failure. So I think the bigger question is: How do we help students to understand that failure is sometimes a necessary step in order to learn? And do re-takes help or hinder this problem?

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With the direction we are heading in with education, I feel allowing students to re-test can be a valuable tool to use in the classroom. The majority of quizzes and tests we now give are skill based as compared to previous years where we assessed students more on content. When teaching a subject like ancient history we are seeing that it is more important for a student to know how to search for a specific date then to memorize it. I also see this as a benefit when working with the special education population since retakes allow a student to build confidence and improve over time. With technology and information at the students fingertips, we need to learn how to embrace this change rather than fight it.

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I am in favor of retakes. In my classes, students have the opportunity to revise and resubmit work for reevaluation at any point. The reason I do this is two-fold: 1) If I am able to manage my classes appropriately, I should be able to view and comment on the students' work prior to final submission. In this way, I can guide, encourage, correct, and assist students as they apply content skills and correctly demonstrate, thus diminishing the need for students to resubmit work as it already has had a precursory evaluation; 2) The students' experience in school is their "real life". Qualifying future opportunities where they won't get to redo something is disingenuous to their current experiences and not a fast and firm fact (i.e., If they don't pass their driver's licensing exam, they can retake it; if they fall flat during a presentation in their position of employment, they most-likely will not be fired from their job).

I agree with the article that creating a safe space for students to fail and grow NOW actually will lead to better experiences going forward. Student learning is flexible and they demonstrate their growth at various rates. Some take longer to grasp a content skill than others. As they improve upon and master each skill, students should have the opportunity to correct shortcomings and demonstrate their improvements. Students take away the realization that extra effort is required if something is not done well the first time around.  Nobody is perfect at everything.  Adolescents benefit from various opportunities and we should foster their learning experience, rather than leave them feeling as if every learning opportunity is a "one-and-done" situation.

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I do not believe that there is one correct response to this question.  I think that there are some students who would truly benefit from retests and those that would just always count on the opportunity to retake and not study the first time around.  I would give students the opportunity to retake or redo an assignment after they have met with me privately to go over the material to see what went wrong to begin with.  I would also monitor to see if the same students are looking for retakes time and time again or it if occurs every now and then.

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I do not think there is one right answer to this topic. Each subject and its curriculum defer in their content and delivery of that content. The skills assessed also vary.
I agree with the sentiment that if we allow students to retake all of their assessments, what accountability and responsibility strategies are they learning. Also,  for certain disciplines, it is not only testing content, but also skills that are being taught over period of time. The test is supposed to see what students have mastered or not. It allows the teacher to see what weaknesses there are and address them. It allows students to do the same.
On the other hand, for our special education population, there may be more of need for those students to have the ability to retake assessments.
Yes you can take the SAT over and over again as many times as you want...if you score higher, does that mean you have learned the skills or content more? Or did you just learn to perform better on that kind of test?

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The idea of assessment should probably go beyond single items that can be taken over.  However, if re-takes are allowed, perhaps students should be required to choose among a set of their summative assessments which one they will re-take.  This lends seriousness to the primary assessment as well as responsibility on the student's part.  Also, the re-take needs to be on the student's time, completed along with any new or ongoing work.  This can reinforce the need to take the assessment seriously the first time around.  Overall, grading needs to be re-examined and portions of the grade such as participation should be moved out of the assessment of mastery of the content and skills and into a separate category such as effort and attitude.  FInally, parents need to be educated about how assessment works and they need to be taught that honor rolls and G&T classifications are less important than the progress that the child is making.

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The idea of assessment should probably go beyond single items that can be taken over.  However, if re-takes are allowed, perhaps students should be required to choose among a set of their summative assessments which one they will re-take.  This lends seriousness to the primary assessment as well as responsibility on the student's part.  Also, the re-take needs to be on the student's time, completed along with any new or ongoing work.  This can reinforce the need to take the assessment seriously the first time around.  Overall, grading needs to be re-examined and portions of the grade such as participation should be moved out of the assessment of mastery of the content and skills and into a separate category such as effort and attitude.  FInally, parents need to be educated about how assessment works and they need to be taught that honor rolls and G&T classifications are less important than the progress that the child is making.

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“Parents and teachers do need to teach kids about due dates and deadlines; absolutely,” Lahey said. “However, we also have to help kids understand that the end of a unit or the reality of a deadline does not mark the end of learning."

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“Parents and teachers do need to teach kids about due dates and deadlines; absolutely,” Lahey said. “However, we also have to help kids understand that the end of a unit or the reality of a deadline does not mark the end of learning."

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This is the last portion of the article and I feel that it says the most. As educators we want our students to learn and strive, not just slide by. Students should be held accountable to due dates, time limits, etc. however in the aspect of providing what each student needs individually to be successful,it could include "retakes" or extra time. Personally, I like how school / grades were done "back in the day" and I feel like it prepared me for the world more so than our current students will be. Then again, that's also because my parents supported teachers and I was held accountable and responsible for my grades whereas many students are not these days (at least from my experiences).

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Back in 11th grade, my English teacher, the literary scholar and critic, Mr. Charles Winters (we called him Chuck) would give us a mini quiz every Friday.  The quiz would be a brief recalling of the week's discussions and readings.  Over the course of the year, this amounted to approximately 30 quizzes.  We did not have any large tests on content or on any of the novels we read.  Our grade relied upon our writings (papers) and these quizzes.  My fellow students and I rarely felt any pressure or anxiety about these quizzes.  Okay, what I'm saying is that these assessments were more of learning through the process rather than waiting until the end of a unit to see if anything sank in.  There were never any retakes.
Now I understand the idea behind retakes and I do believe that they can become part of the process.  It would be interesting to see how students would react when they are told that a particular test will not allow any retakes and then on others, allow them.  I can see that  students have a tendency to take the easy way out (this is not just relegated to students btw) but a retake does allow for reinforcement and a possible avenue for teachers to evaluate what areas of study need further focus.
Just as Scagell in the article fluctuates between the pros and cons of retakes, so to do I.  The world does not provide for retakes and a mistake is a mistake as recently witnessed in Hawaii with the missile scare.  However the retake in that instance now will provide for additional safeguards and a double check before a message is sent out.
There must be moderation when using retakes.  There are many instances in our lives where we get the chance to re-do or improve a moment or decision, but we still have to live with the consequences of the original result.  Whether or not those consequences have a profound impact can be adjusted due to the follow up or "re-take" of the decision or event.
My hesitation in utilizing retakes as the overall method for education is the underlying reliability that people will develop thinking they can always get a re-take.  Re-takes must be used in moderation and with specific moments in mind.  They must be combined with the concept that there are times in life that we simply do not get a retake.
All we have to do is look at sporting events for people to easily understand.  Take for example the football playoffs going on right now.  Yes, there are many chances to get it right and make the great play, but there are also those individual moments where there is no chance to re-do the play.  We've all seen the quarterbacks with an amazing percentage of completed passes and yards attained, but still lose the game.  Do they learn from their loss, absolutely, but they won't be able to retake that particular moment.
So what does this all mean, I believe that we cannot answer this question of re-takes with one simple response.  Just like everything else in life and as my 9th grade Biology teacher, Mr. Katorincek said, "Everything's the same and everything's differents." We as educators have to balance the use of re-takes with the life lessons that our students will surely be learning. It is our job not to set them up for always expecting a second chance, but we must also show them that re-working and re-designing is part of how the world works as well. Once again, using a concept in moderation is my method and is part of my overall philosophy of being a life-long learning.

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I feel that at some point, students and parents need to understand the overall picture. Instead of being obsessed with the grade, they should be more involved with the retention of the information. Especially at our level of education, students should begin to learn how to be responsible and organized with studying and content knowledge retention.  Just like in the article, I tend to sway back and forth with allowing retakes for a higher grade. I think that seeing the information again can build on their retention but in trying to make students college and career ready, in some cases, there is only one shot in making a presentation, interviewing, or taking a mandated test to progress in their field. Overall, re-takes can hold both a benefit and a disservice to our students. - AM

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When I decide whether to allow my students to re take an assessment/assignment, I ask myself, "Self, what is the purpose behind allowing the student to re take the assessment? Will this in turn increase the student's understanding of the topic and/or deepen their thinking?
Additionally, I firmly believe that students should not be able to earn above a low-average grade for the assignment so that they know that there is a consequence for not being responsible.

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After reading the article,  I don’t believe that one is right and the other is wrong. There are pros and cons to both sides of the argument. I do agree that students should not be assessed on how fast they can learn a topic. Especially for our special education population, some students would benefit from the repetition of instruction that comes along with retakes. I also agree that it would be helpful for students with test anxiety. Knowing that they can retake the test will help relieve some of the stress an assessment can put on them. On the contrary, I do think some students will take advantage of retakes by not preparing for tests. However, I think that once students mature and value the importance of their education and tests, they will be more likely to prepare for assessments, wanting to succeed the first time.

-Amanda

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I think the final quote of the article is very relevant to the field of teaching and learning today.  

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I think the final quote of the article is very relevant to the field of teaching and learning today.  

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“Parents and teachers do need to teach kids about due dates and deadlines; absolutely,” Lahey said. “However, we also have to help kids understand that the end of a unit or the reality of a deadline does not mark the end of learning.”

As educators, we are already inherently teaching students the importance of deadlines; we assign due dates for everything from homework to unit projects.  Learning, however, is a continual process. If a student fails a test or quiz, then they have not learned the material.  When we allow students to re-take tests or quizzes, it goes without saying that the student HAS to take some initiative to better prepare herself for the assessment the second time around.  Therefore, the student has already learned more, which is the ultimate goal of education, isn't it?

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The topic of allowing students to do retakes on assessments is very interesting.  Initially, when I read the article  I felt that this topic could be a very divisive one.  When I first began in the teaching profession I was not a big supporter of allowing students to do retakes to improve their grade but never really gave a of thought as to why. I believe that my philosophy has changed on this issue.  Since public education is now changing from the facts/content to the important skills that we want our students to gain mastery of, I am now more open to having students be allowed to do retakes.  One of the areas that I have noticed over the past few years is that many students are anxious regarding test/assessments.  I feel that any student who has not mastered the concept/skill I have an opportunity to improve (if they are motivated to ).  I have many students who are on IEP's as well as low students who could very well benefit from the opportunity for retakes. This is definitely an area that I have become more open to over the past few years.
Paul Levesque

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After reading the article I do agree with some aspects but also disagree. It is certain that allowing students with retakes does not promote responsibility one student stated to his mother, “It doesn’t even matter. If I don’t do well I’ll just retake it."  This shows that the students are not aware of deadlines and are not being held accountable.
However, in retrospect those students that are anxious that are not good test takers have that opportunity to be more relaxed knowing that they have another chance if they do not do well. "Still others say retakes reduce stress and pressure on already anxious students. They believe such policies may allow kids to better comprehend material by repeating it."
I feel that the best option would be to allow students to make corrections to their wrong answers or to retake the test in a different format. This in turn will show that the student understands the material.

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There are certainly pros and cons to this article and I believe that retakes should be taken into account on a case-by-case basis. I do not believe that giving the same test as a "retake" would be beneficial when students can take the easy way out and not prepare ahead of time knowing they can have a retake if they do not perform well. In the past, I have occasionally allowed students to retake portions of assessments that they may be weaker in (listening sections, multiple-choice, fill-ins) depending on students' learning styles. I remember a Gendered Brain class I took a few years ago that taught us how very often females tend to not perform as well as males on multiple-choice type assessments versus essay/open-ended type assessments (since women tend to overthink/second guess more). I believe that having differentiation on pencil and paper type assessments can be helpful at reaching all students as well as utilizing project-based assessments in which students have more autonomy to demonstrate mastery of a unit/concept. Test anxiety, time limits, stress, etc. can obviously contribute to poor grades as well and depending on the situation, teachers should be able to best accommodate their students based on the situation but students should not use retakes as a safety net for failing to prepare or exert effort the first time around.

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I believe , like previously mentioned in here, retakes should be on a student-by-student basis. I rarely allow test/quiz retakes in my classes. I feel that if students are always given the opportunity to do retakes, most of them will not try their best and rely heavily on the retake. I already notice  when students ask me if something is going to receive a physical grade as opposed to class participation. The effort varies in their performance. Students are usually given ample time to review and study for an assessment. They are also provided with many different activities to enhance learning and understanding. If students do not do well in a test, I usually go back to the topic and explain it again to ensure students understand the topic. I also believe that by not providing retakes, it teaches students on how to be responsible and accountable. There will be many situations in life where students will not be given the opportunity to retake and this will prepare them for future situations. VC

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Like many things in education, I believe there are pros and cons to retakes.  As a special Education teacher, I feel the  pros outweigh the cons.  To a student with severe anxiety, retakes can give a sense of peace and relaxation knowing that if they do not perform well the first time, there will be a chance for redemption to show what they know.  Retakes still allow us as educators to know if a student has mastered  content.  Although they did not master the content in the time we had hoped with the original test, they are still showing they understand what they learned, just at a later time.  On the other hand, just when is there time for retakes and in what form are you going to present them? Are you giving the same test as a retake or making a different version? Test corrections? There are many different forms of retakes and finding the appropriate one might be different for each student.