Grading a test

[momee]

DS got an 80 on his chapter two test the first go round. I knew he knew the information and made him take the test again.

 

He got a 95.

 

I'm trying to keep track of scores as this is for high school credit.

 

Do I average the two together (I've had teachers do this all the time), give him the higher score or stay with the lower score?

thanks for your input - I'm sure opinions will vary

[Sharon in MD]

I have done this for my son in the past, but only on a rare occasion. If he did the same thing the next time I gave him a test, I'd make him keep the lower score so that he didn't start to expect me to give him a second chance.

 

I think that it is appropriate to give our students an opportunity to show that they did, in fact, know the material and allow them to better their grade by averaging. I also think that we have to be careful as moms not to allow them to take advantage of our goodwill.

 

Or at least I know I have to guard myself that way.

 

In my own personal case, I'm about to go and grade my ds's math test, which we know he got at least one major problem wrong on because he didn't really read the question correctly. In this case I'm just going to make him take the lower grade, even though I know he knows how to do it correctly. I'm going to do it this way because I also have noticed that he's been getting a bit careless in this way lately. I think that he will make the effort to be more conscientious about paying attention to details if I make him loose the points on this one.

 

It seems to me there is no single correct answer to this question, rather I have to evaluate each occurence.

 

HTH

[homewithtrinity]

I have averaged the scores in some subjects. In math problems, I often gave a set amount of points for each correct step. This process actually worked well with spelling also.