A District Mandated Retest Policy

Recently, during a teacher book group discussion on Myron Dueck's Grading Smarter, Not Harder the following question was posed: Should our district have a district-wide reassessment policy? What follows is my response! Enjoy!

Short answer: No.

Long answer: In my mind there is a huge difference between reassessing and redoing. If students do poorly on an assessment and there is no additional revisiting of the material along with reteaching, then there is no point in giving the reassessment. I like the concept of making students work for their reassessments- making it somewhat more challenging and/or inconvenient. However, at the core the idea of reassessments is the idea of measuring the most current level of student understanding and, with this in mind, the two supplemental articles posted are actually not that far apart.

In the "no retakes" piece shared with the group, the author points out that failure is important but even more important is the grit and growth in content learning as well as learning how to learn that takes place to improve to get the A''s and B's at the end of the term instead of the C's and D's that were earned at the start of the term. In the second piece, "retakes=compassion," the author points out that reassessments can be used to more accurately measure student learning when discrepancies between formative and summative assessment occur as well as to help students improve and grow in their understanding. The end result of both approaches is the same: student growth. These two approaches, however, are not that different; the "no retakes" article seems to suggest that the student learning at the end of the unit/term is more important (perhaps even weighted more) than the student learning at the start of the term/unit. If this is, in fact, the case, then the end result is effectively the same as allowing reassessments.

To the question at hand... I think the two supplemental articles and Dueck's ideas demonstrate that there are many ways to address accurately measuring student learning; I think how that happens in each content area is best left up to the individual teachers or, at the next level, up to the department because reassessing in math is very different than reassessing in social studies. In my classroom, if a student is missing major components to a paper after navigating through a supported research and writing/review process, I would make suggestions and give them the opportunity to improve their response. However, in math, students do the homework, get feedback on their skills, then they take a quiz (reassessment) which is followed by feedback, and then students take a test (reassessment). The reassessment and learning process is in place throughout! To then fault a math teacher for not allowing reassessments would be inappropriate and inaccurate.

The bottom line is, I think, this: mandating a district reassessment policy is not a good idea. Attempts to be as inclusive and all-encompassing as possible when writing a policy often results in an ineffective policy What is a good idea? - Empowering and encouraging (or even incentivizing) teachers to improve in their professional learning and practice (through things like a book group!! or taking classes, etc.) and treating them as professionals and when applicable, experts, is going to result in high quality instructional and classroom practices that will include holding students to high standards, acting with compassion, and focusing on student learning toward high quality learning outcomes. As teachers work toward improving their practice, it is vital that the district support teachers by allowing time to work on not only learning to improve their practice but also time to implement the improved practices. This is super-duper important, especially in a small district where teachers are teaching a number of different courses that would make head's spin for our counterparts in large districts.

With All Deliberate Speed...a film review

       “With All Deliberate Speed” is a documentary about the events leading up to the 1954 Brown v. Board U.S. Supreme Court decision which concerned the issue of separate but equal public educational facilities for different races in the United States. The documentary title comes from part of the unanimous written opinion of the court penned by chief justice Earl Warren in which the court found the 1896 precedent of separate but equal set by Plessy unconstitutional and ordered schools to integrate. The lack of progress prompted the Warren court to issue a follow-up decision a year later known as Brown II which ordered integration be conducted “with all deliberate speed.” This phrase serves as a point of debate still today as to whether the court’s phrasing was actually harmful or if the court’s word choice was a realistic consideration of how difficult integration would be. The documentary focuses on a case for overturning separate but equal that came out of Prince Edward County, Virginia, which eventually became one of the five cases that made up the Brown v. Board Supreme Court case. In addition to enlightening the viewer about the details of how this landmark case came to be, the film explores two other key themes: the importance of individuals taking action in history and the importance and power of the judicial branch in our history.
Though the film is presented as an examination of the rather big picture idea of the beginning of the end racial segregation in America, a critical eye will note that the story of how this unfolds is really a conglomeration of many smaller stories about individual actors. The historical importance of individual actors comes as no surprise to any student of history, but the documentary’s focus on the individuals involved in the Prince Edward County case and the Brown Supreme Court case conveys a message to the viewer that, when it comes to the stage of history, there are no bit roles. In particular, the film focuses in on the sixteen year-old Barbara Johns who played a key role in making the Prince Edward County case happen; the long-term planning and legal genius of Charles Hamilton Houston that led to the creation of a sort of equal rights legal dream team that included Thurgood Marshall; and the fortuitous arrival on the court and consensus building abilities of Earl Warren, the chief justice who oversaw the arguments in Brown v. Board. There are many others whose opinions and storytelling are shared throughout the documentary. The combined effect of these individual stories seeks to stir within the viewer a desire to stand up against injustice in fulfillment of Margaret Mead’s famous quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” This inspiration, however, is tempered by the stories of the individuals whose comments frequently relate the reality of how arduous and eminently frustrating any attempt to challenge established social norms can be.
A final lesson from the film appears at first to be a relatively simple one which is that the judicial branch of our governing structure holds an incredible amount of power; this fact that is often unrealized (or at the very least, not completely understood) by the American public and is, perhaps, incredibly important to be mindful of considering the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court and the current tone of the national political landscape. “With All Deliberate Speed” offers a tutorial about how powerful the Supreme Court is while also, at the same time, how extremely limited it’s powers are. Despite a unanimous decision in which the court said that when it comes to schools,  “...the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” the realization of the court’s monumental ruling would take decades; some might even argue it has yet to be realized today. The lack of progress to integrate schools actually prompted the court to issue the Brown II decision, in which the court used more forceful language to seek compliance with their original decision. Though marked by frustration and difficulty, the story of “With All Deliberate Speed” should serve as inspiration and a sobering reality check to all those who fight against injustice everywhere.