CVHS reforms retakes

CVHS is piloting a “Retake, Redo, Reassessment” policy in the 2024-2025 school year. Principal Christopher Fortenberry required departments to agree on a retake policy that follows guidelines which “support accuracy and motivation, while also eliminating unintentional bias.”

Every department will offer the option to retake a test during school hours, but policies vary and may not be uniform between subjects.

The social studies, PE, and special education departments already have new upcoming policies. For social studies, all teachers will offer at least one assessment retake after students show evidence of preparation.

“Test retakes don’t promote learning, they make grades less stressful,” said junior Laughlin Chen. “Ms. Brown’s retake policy in USH is that you can retake up to a B for any test, and this limit is good at preventing people from relying on retakes.” 

“Test retakes promote learning because students are encouraged to learn the material and try again, but there should be a limit,” said junior Matthew Aguas. “Ms. Cassidy’s APUSH retake policy is one MCQ section retake per semester, which I think is a good balance between motivating us to study for the first test and motivating us to keep trying.”

The PE and special education departments will allow retakes for students scoring below 70% on a test.

Some departments such as math and science will have different policies for different levels. AP Chemistry tests are currently divided into standards which can each be retaken once to replace the lowest of two grades, while AP Biology tests are divided into scientific practices such as reasoning and can each be retaken once.

“If we had a bad day or were busy with another class, we still have the opportunity to study and fix our grade. However, it also encourages laziness and not being ready by the original test date, so grades are inflated,” said junior Mark Zaydman, a student in AP Biology.

“For my class, you can retake a test as many times as you want… This promotes learning because of how I’m able to learn from my mistakes and solve the problem,” said freshman Jonathan Bahng, a student in Integrated Math 1.

The CTE department has a pending policy where students will have at least one retake opportunity for each test they score lower than a B. The limit for a reassessed grade will be at the teacher’s discretion, but retake scores will replace the test score even if a student scores lower.

“Retakes are for students who are saying that their original grade is wrong,” said math teacher Alan Kraut. “If they’re worried about their new grade being lower, that’s an indication that maybe they shouldn’t be doing retakes at that point. They should be getting to the point where they are ready to do a retake first and then they should be confident that their retake grade will be higher.”

Other departments like the VAPA and language department have a “work in progress” plan that hasn’t been released.

“Instead of cramming for a test and essentially barfing it onto the test, test retakes allows you to learn from your mistakes and better understand the concepts after reviewing it again,” said senior Justine Fong. “It’s smart to make students complete a review before retaking the test because not only does it urge students to figure out the material, it also teaches students discipline and time management.”