SBG Part 5 - Reassessing

If you put any stock in what Carol Dweck wrote about in Mindset, then encouraging students to have a growth mindset while implementing a traditional grading system often sets them up for failure.  

Let's say a student does poorly on the "Unit 3" test.  If you as a teacher are unwilling to allow them some way to reassess after they upgrade their level of knowledge, I don't see how that promotes a growth mindset.  What that says to the student is that even if they are willing to put in work to improve their level of knowledge, you as a teacher do not value that effort.  I think that send the wrong message.

Here's what I tell students that they must do in order to reassess a learning goal:

New information showing additional learning will replace old information.  You may reassess provided that you have:

• fully completed ALL assignments related to that standard (standard codes are listed at the top of every assignment)
• checked your answers for all assignments related to that standard using the key in Mr. Weiger's notebook
• documented an effort to engage in additional learning (e.g. tutoring, additional practice, test corrections, studying, etc.)

You must fill out an online reassessment request two workdays in advance of any reassessment.  You may only reassess one standard per day.  You must reassess before or after school.  The deadline for any reassessment is the last day before the final week of the semester.  No reassessments will be allowed  during the final week of the semester.  Any grade changes due to reassessments made after Q1/Q3 ends will be reflected in your S1/S2 grade.

I post my before/after school availability on a google calendar on my class website.

Here's what the reassessment form look like.  Some good meta-cognitive questions are included - click the link to check it out.

The new score is entered over the old score in the gradebook after the student reassesses - even if if goes down.  This ensures students take reassessment seriously.

I put a comment in the gradebook that says for example, "original score:1, reassess:4"

A nice aspect of this system is that it puts most of the responsibility for the reassessing process on the student.