Good post. My colleague and I do allow retakes, but only after students thoroughly go back and regrade their own tests. They must find the correct answer for each incorrect answer and write an explanation of why they got it wrong. They must present me with those corrections before they get a chance at a retest. Then they only get to retest on the specific topic of the problems they corrected. Overall, I think it improves achievement. But the down side is some students don’t give their full effort on the first test, knowing they can just do test corrections later. I find this annoying. But our school district is big on using tests as formative assessments to improve learning, rather than using tests as just summative assessments.

It’s also more work for me, having to grade more tests for the same unit. But if it increases learning and proficiency, I suppose it’s worthwhile.

Regards,
Todd (from the Beaverton School District)