72. Test Corrections

Ellie 0:00

Test corrections for math or for any subject. Do you allow students to do them? Or do you dislike the idea?

Brittany 0:29

For me, it totally depended on the test. Quizzes were a no, but tests were usually a yes, unless I gave the students some other advantage, like being able to use notes on the test.

Ellie 0:45

You know, thinking about that, I feel like we need to talk about that some other time, using notes on a test.

Brittany 0:50

All right, we can do that,

Ellie 0:52

just something that popped in my brain there. So welcome to the teaching Toolbox Podcast. I'm Ellie, and I'm here with my friend Brittany.

Brittany 1:00

Hello,

Ellie 1:01

Whether you like or dislike the idea of test corrections, or whether you're considering offering test corrections or not, stay tuned to listen in to the pros and cons of this practice and some tips for implementing test corrections in any subject.

Brittany 1:17

First, let's hit some of the pros of this practice. In our research, we found several articles that support these advantages. Number one, test corrections enhance the mastery of the content. It reinforces the learning by revisiting incorrect answers so students have the chance to reinforce what they've learned, ensuring that they grasp the material more thoroughly. Test corrections clarify misunderstandings. They help students identify and correct their misconceptions, which can lead them to a clear understanding of their subject matter. And they promote long term retention. Engaging with the material a second or a third time, can help them transfer that knowledge from short term to long term memory, which improves their retention rate.

Ellie 2:11

Test corrections can also help develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. They encourage students to analyze so they learn to analyze their mistakes more critically, and that can help foster a deeper level of thinking and comprehension. And they can cultivate problem solving abilities. As students work through their errors, they develop strategies to approach and solve similar problems in the future.

Brittany 2:36

Yeah and I think a lot of times in that sense, that they realize, okay, whatever method I used the first time didn't work, so let me try a different method, and it gets them to approach things in different ways.

Ellie 2:49

Yeah.

Brittany 2:50

Number three, completing test corrections can support a growth mindset. When you do test corrections, you're emphasizing learning over grades. So test corrections shift the focus from grades to learning, encouraging students to view mistakes as a natural and valuable part of the learning process. Instead of seeing them as a pass or fail situation. They also build confidence. Successfully correcting errors can boost students' confidence in their abilities and motivate them to tackle more challenging material without the fear of failure.

Ellie 3:28

All good things. Test corrections can also provide valuable feedback for students and teachers. They can offer personalized insights. Students receive personalized feedback on their test corrections, which helps them understand their strengths and their areas for improvement, and it can help inform instructional practices, because teachers can gain insights into common areas of difficulty, allowing them to adjust the teaching strategies to better meet students' needs.

Brittany 3:57

And then lastly, test corrections can encourage responsibility and accountability. Test corrections can promote ownership of learning. By taking responsibility for correcting their mistakes, students develop a sense of ownership over their own learning journey. And the process fosters accountability. By completing test corrections, it teaches students to take accountability for their academic performance and understand the consequence of their efforts. I used to have a sign in my classroom that said something about like you earn your grade, or like the grade you earned, so that students understood that I don't give your grade

Ellie 4:42

right,

Brittany 4:43

you earn your grade

Ellie 4:44

Right, right? Very good. So test corrections do have a lot of benefits, but some teachers and researchers have found some potential downsides to offering test corrections.

Brittany 4:56

If there's an upside, there's always a downside.

Ellie 4:58

Yeah, absolutely. In some of the studies that we found, there were a few challenges or disadvantages of allowing test corrections. One of those was actually reduced student accountability. So while we did have student accountability and responsibility as a pro, it also might be a con. When students know they have the opportunity to correct their mistakes to get a better grade, they might not try as hard on their tests in the first place. They might not study as thoroughly for their assessment, and you know, just rely on the chance to make corrections instead. Or their focus might shift from understanding the material to just trying to improve their grades through corrections, leading to a minimal understanding of the content.

Brittany 5:43

Yes, I found that to be true. There could also be an over reliance on corrections. The availability of test corrections can lead students to become dependent on that as a safety net, which might hurt their ability to perform independently. They might not feel as motivated to fully understand the material before the test, knowing that they can fix errors afterwards. And relying on corrections can prevent students from developing effective study habits and test taking strategies, because they figure why try?

Ellie 6:20

right.

Brittany 6:20

Because I can just do it.

Ellie 6:22

Right, and they don't always think about the fact that test corrections might not be offered forever. So maybe you'll get to do test corrections in sixth grade with them, and you go to seventh grade, that's not an opportunity, and you haven't developed any of those test taking strategies and study habits, so you're kind of, you know, behind in that respect.

Brittany 6:41

And they might not teach study habits and test taking strategies in seventh grade,

Ellie 6:46

right.

Brittany 6:46

Like we often do in sixth. When I taught sixth grade in elementary school, I used to try to treat every single test differently. So sometimes they got to use notes. Sometimes it was a straight test, no corrections, nothing. Sometimes it was an oral test. Sometimes they got to do corrections and corrections were required. They never knew what it would be until, usually the time of the test and sometimes after the test. And so they couldn't rely on the corrections or something else to help them. They had to, they had to study like it was a real, real, actual test. No help.

Ellie 7:29

Very good. So that's something if you're going to think about instituting these that's a good thing to keep in mind. Another disadvantage of offering test corrections is that they take time. Implementing test corrections takes extra time and resources that could potentially take away from covering new material or exploring other educational activities depending on how you institute them. For example, if a teacher chooses to use some class time for the test correction process, that might end up taking more time to review the test, guide students through the process, and that could be at the expense of another topic, the amount of time given to another topic. Even if class time isn't used, there's the grading of the corrections that teachers need to complete, because somehow we have to, you know, assess how the corrections went, and that can leave less time for planning new things or potentially grading other assignments, or just give you a whole lot of extra stuff to do. And then test corrections also take additional student time, and if their time is limited, they might choose to complete the corrections to improve their grade, rather than use their time for new homework assignments or studying new content.

Brittany 8:42

When I was at the middle school, we did test corrections during lunch, and so it meant I basically couldn't eat because students were doing test corrections on a five question quiz at that point, and so some students could do it very rapidly, where others would take the entire lunch period to do one five question quiz. And some students would like test, miss a couple, test again, miss onem test again, then get a five out of five.

Ellie 9:18

And this correction scenario, they were like, retesting,

Brittany 9:21

yes,

Ellie 9:21

okay.

Brittany 9:22

And so it was just like, I was just constantly grading, grading, grading, grading, grading, during my lunch, okay, as fast as I could right in front of them,

Ellie 9:32

right.

Brittany 9:32

So, yeah, they're sacrificing their their lunch, kind of, they're kind of eating while they're testing, and I'm sacrificing my lunch

Ellie 9:41

right

Brittany 9:41

with test corrections. Another downfall or con is there is a potential for inequity. The effectiveness of test corrections can vary depending on a student's individual circumstances, which could lead to inequities in learning outcomes and these challenges might include varied support levels. Not all students have access to the same level of support outside of school, like help from parents or tutors, and that can definitely affect their ability to complete corrections effectively.

I definitely saw this when I offered test corrections for a few years, because most of the time that happened outside of the classroom. You know, if they did want to come to see me for help ninth period or lunch time, that was an opportunity, but most of the time it happened outside of school. And so some students returned with everything perfect, having had help at home, while others returned with many items still incorrect, because they didn't have help at home, and then they didn't come to see me for help.

There's also disparities in feedback. The quality of feedback provided during corrections may differ, potentially benefiting some students more than others, depending on the teacher's approach, how much feedback they're willing to give. Sometimes they might write a lot at the beginning of giving feedback, and as they get more tired, they write less and less. So those students at the bottom of the pile might get less feedback.

That's true. Another potential negative. If you want to see this as negative, I would have students who only got maybe one or two problems incorrect out of a 40 point test or 40 question test they would only get one or two wrong. They would be the ones who completed the test corrections, just for that little bit of extra points added back to their grade. But then I'd have students who failed, who wouldn't even attempt the test corrections at all, unless you required it, and that makes it tough. Like do you make test corrections and assignment because you want them to take advantage of the opportunity, and will it benefit them at all if you make an assignment without sitting with them to reteach everything anyway? So that makes it tough. Sometimes some of that extra grading was going to the students who didn't necessarily need it to bump their grade. They might have made like a little multiplication error or something like that. It wasn't conceptual.

It often seems like the kids who don't need to do the corrections are often the ones doing it.

That's great that they have that motivation. So not knocking that, not saying that, that's a bad thing. It's fantastic. We wish we had lots of those students.

We wish all of them would do the corrections.

Yeah,

so if you'd like to give test corrections a try, we do have some tips to help the process go as smoothly as possible, and we already gave one up above, with making every test differently. Number one, set some clear expectations, explain the purpose. Siscuss with students why you're making test corrections and why they're valuable. Emphasize that the goal is to learn from mistakes, deepen their understanding, rather than just improve their grade. Outline the process. Provide a clear, structured outline of how test corrections will be conducted. This should include deadlines, the format you want corrections to be in, how the corrections will impact their grade, if applicable.

For example, you might say test corrections are due within three days of the test being returned. In sixth grade math, we had test correction sheets where students completed their new work, and then this was attached to their original test, and handed in. If they didn't hand in the original test, then the corrections were not accepted because you couldn't see what was incorrect to start with. As far as the points, I typically allow students to get half of their points back by making the corrections, which was always fun when they lost half a point to start with, and then I'd have to add back a quarter of a point because they get half of the credit back. You also might want to develop a correction template. So you might want a template for them to use that could include a section for the original question, if you're not having them attach the test, and their initial answer, the new correct answer, and an explanation of why the original answer was incorrect. The template could also include some reflection questions that would encourage students to think about their learning by asking questions like, What did I misunderstand, or what was wrong with my calculations, or What strategies can I use next time? As I said, that was part of our test corrections, they had to write a sentence or two explaining what they had done incorrectly, like if it was a computation error, they could just say, I multiplied seven times six wrong, or what their misunderstanding was, if it was more of a conceptual understanding error,

Yeah, we did the exact same thing with ours. You also could provide guidance and support. You could offer a review session after handing back the test. Have a review session where students can ask questions and clarify any questions about the material. This can be done as a whole class or in small groups. You could also facilitate peer discussions. In this case, you can encourage students to discuss their mistakes with their classmates. Peer teaching can be a powerful tool for reinforcing concepts and learning collaboratively. You know, they say that we learn best when we teach someone else.

For sure, if you're going to use test corrections, you want to implement some type of grading policy by deciding how the corrections will impact their grades. You could do the partial credit for corrected answers or even a separate grade for the correction effort.

I would sometimes make test corrections a separate grade or separate assignment. So I graded by points, so the test may be out of 100 and the student may have a 72 thus they're making corrections to raise that grade. Just like Ellie I usually did half credit on the corrections, so they've lost 28 points, so they can make 14 points back so they could get up to an 86% or 86 points if they corrected everything correctly. So in addition, I may make completing the test corrections worth, like 10 points. And so if they completed all the corrections, they would get 10 points. If they skipped some questions, like maybe they didn't want to do a hard question or something, or they skipped explaining why they missed questions, then I would reduce that score proportionately out of 10, but that's how I would sometimes grade test corrections themselves.

Good. Thanks for sharing that. Make sure students understand how the test corrections will contribute to their overall grade, and reinforce the idea that corrections are about focused learning and improvement, not just about grades.

You could also encourage reflection and goal setting. After completing corrections, have students reflect on what they learned from this process. This could be through a short written reflection or a class discussion. And then set future goals. Help students set specific, actionable goals for future assessments based on their reflections, promoting a growth mindset.

As you're implementing test corrections, try to foster a supportive environment. Encourage a classroom culture where mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities. That's what this whole process does for us. Praise effort and improvement and provide positive feedback on the correction process. And keep lines of communication open with students and parents, explaining the benefits of test corrections and how they support academic growth. By instituting test corrections as a regular practice, you can create a dynamic learning environment that not only improves content mastery, but also instills valuable skills such as self assessment, resilience, and accountability.

Incorporating test corrections into your middle school classes can bolster academic achievement and cultivate life skills like resiliency, critical thinking, and personal responsibility. As we talked about there are also challenges with implementing test corrections, so whether you decide to add them to your teaching toolbox or not, we hope you enjoyed this episode.

If you have further questions about test corrections, reach out to us on Instagram or Facebook. At Teaching Toolbox Podcast. We'd love to hear from you. Have a wonderful day. Bye.

Bye.