DGN has selected a small group of teachers to use a new pilot retake policy that only applies to three subjects and a total of 16 teachers. This policy allows students to retake a test more than once. The new policy was implemented on Jan. 7 because Principal Courtney Dement wanted to add a different policy for students. This recent strategy will also allow kids to worry less about their low scores.
The new system began to come together when teachers involved in the Trojan Leadership Committee, also known as TLC, decided to focus on school improvements within the building. They first focused on a pilot student retaking policy.
“We actually volunteered to run the pilot. I also believe that most of the teachers that chose to be a part of the pilot were volunteers from that committee,” English teacher Jeanette Lawler said. “So now we’re talking about how we’re going to collect data from the teachers that aren’t in the pilot and what they’re doing and what they have versus the teachers that are participating in the pilot.”
Teachers who volunteered look forward to seeing how the new policy impacts students. This recent change gives students additional time, which is different for every class, to prepare retakes if they don’t perform well on a test, pitch, or essay, depending on the class. The new policy will also permit up to two retakes for any test of the student’s choice. This intends to give students greater opportunities to improve their grades and work closer to achieving their target scores.
“First semester, you students got to retake one test from the entire semester and you could do it at any point in the semester. And when you retook it, you got the score you got on the retake regardless if it was better or worse,” math teacher Emilee Fiacchino said. “The new policy that we’re going to be piloting for our class is that you will have the option to retake two tests per semester. You also have to take it within a certain time frame. So when I return the test, you only have one week to request a retake.”
A number of students look forward to the new policy, which they suspect will allow them to achieve higher scores on their assessments. The new policy also allows a sense of relief to the students who worry often about their scores and how they perform on tests, pitches, and essays. Many students look forward to this because they believe that having to worry less will lead to improved grades overall.
“I think it will be successful in helping more students improve their grades. Multiple students will have to plan for the same retake policy for each class instead of having teachers and subjects having their own policy and needing multiple policies,” junior Ella Bonk said. “I believe having less to worry about will lead to improving grades and better test scores overall.”
However, while the new policy may seem beneficial for many students and allow them to inch closer to their target percentage, some may think this recent addition might not be such a great idea. They believe it won’t make a huge difference to the students and their grades.
“As great as the new policy sounds, I don’t think students are going to be using it properly,” sophomore Levi Haubold said. “Like, the ones who already have pretty high scores are going to use the new retake policy to get a higher grade. Even though their scores before were decent. But, I guess we’ll see.”
