Upon receiving a science test back, my teacher announces that no retakes would be available. As instant complaints and chatter erupted, my peers became beyond frustrated that this JDS privilege had been revoked. I quickly learned that the science department had changed its retake policy for the 2025-2026 school year and that it was now up to the teacher’s discretion whether an assessment could be retaken.
With each department at JDS having its own retake policy, it is nearly impossible for students to keep track of which rule applies to which department and when. The retake criteria vary not only by subject but also by whether it is a quiz, an assessment, an essay or a test. Additionally, the policy is course-specific and is most often determined by teachers’ judgment.
The prominent issue with the policy is that it is currently too lenient, causing significant confusion among students.
For students, being able to revise their work is a great opportunity to re-engage with the material and demonstrate the effort they are willing to put in to improve their scores. As retakes promote mastery of the material, they are essential for understanding current work, which will eventually build upon itself.
The math department is very retake-friendly and had the option available before the school collectively switched. The goal of retakes in the math department is to assess how much information students retain and to encourage them to revisit and revise their work.
“We [the math department] don’t want a quiz to just be a final grade that you’re stuck with,” High School Math Chair Tori Ball said. “We want it to be information. The goal is continuous learning, and the goal is that if you mess something up, you can learn from your mistakes.”
A few years ago, before JDS collectively switched to offering retakes, Ball, along with other JDS educators, attended a program on the science of learning and how the brain retains information. After learning about and experimenting with ways to preserve information, Ball and the Math Department collectively decided to open this opportunity to students for any major graded math assessments.
High School Assistant Principal Aileen Goldstein also attended the same conference, and after finding meaningful information, the school made a collective decision to send groups of teachers from varying departments to gain more insight into how retakes can be implemented at JDS. The goal of the conference was to ask essential questions about grading policy and determine what works best to ensure that grades are accurate, bias-resistant and clear.
“Our goal is to make sure that students are learning the material and the skills, and every student needs a different amount of practice,” Goldstein said. “Giving a retake opportunity allows students who grow and learn on different schedules to have that opportunity. It also allows us to really focus much more on the learning than on the idea of the grade.”
Because each student takes different amounts of time to absorb knowledge, Goldstein believes that allowing students to retake assessments is intended to give them the time they need to digest the provided information.
Allowing students to retake tests requires reengagement with prior material. Although students are not forced to study before a retake, most do so to help improve their scores. Not only does this help students juggle multiple units within a single class, but it also demonstrates responsibility and an eagerness to improve and learn.
JDS’s retake policy helps prepare students for the future and leaves room for mistakes and improvement. Opportunities to retake are about more than just the grade; they allow students to deepen their understanding of the material and prepare them for success moving forward. “Opportunities to retake are about more than just the grade; they allow students to deepen their understanding of the material and prepare them for success moving forward.”
Despite the philosophy regarding retakes, it is essential that JDS as a whole has a single policy. Having a shared understanding of how students learn and retain knowledge is crucial. With this, our school’s reassessment policy should align with our values to ensure students have equal opportunity across courses.
