Comparison of Grade Replacement and Weighted Averages for Second-Chance Exams

Abstract

We explore how course policies affect students' studying and learning when a second-chance exam is offered. High-stakes, one-off exams remain a de facto standard for assessing student knowledge in STEM, despite compelling evidence that other assessment paradigms such as mastery learning can improve student learning. Unfortunately, mastery learning can be costly to implement. We explore the use of optional second-chance testing to sustainably reap the benefits of mastery-based learning at scale. Prior work has shown that course policies affect students' studying and learning but have not compared these effects within the same course context. We conducted a quasi-experimental study in a single course to compare the effect of two grading policies for second-chance exams and the effect of increasing the size of the range of dates for students taking asynchronous exams. The first grading policy, called 90-cap, allowed students to optionally take a second-chance exam that would fully replace their score on a first-chance exam except the second-chance exam would be capped at 90% credit. The second grading policy, called 90-10, combined students' first-and secondchance exam scores as a weighted average (90% max score + 10% min score). The 90-10 policy significantly increased the likelihood that marginally competent students would take the second-chance exam. Further, our data suggests that students learned more under the 90-10 policy, providing improved student learning outcomes at no cost to the instructor. Most students took exams on the last day an exam was available, regardless of how many days the exam was available.

Levantamento do Estado da Arte sobre o uso da Metodologia de Repetição Espaçada no Ensino de Computação

“…De acordo com Herman et al (2020), o efeito de teste, que incorpora feedbacks à prática de recuperação de conteúdo, pode contribuir para o aprimoramento do aprendizado e para um aumento na retenção de conhecimento por parte dos alunos. Esta metodologia se mostra mais eficiente que alguns métodos tradicionais de estudo, como é o caso da releitura de materiais.…”

An Online Assessment Strategy to Improve Student Engagement, Performance, and Retention: Certification-based Retesting

“…The number of retakes available to a student overall and per exam can impact the overall retention of material. When a student is given unlimited attempts, they tend to view only the last one as the "real" test (Elbrink, 1973, Herman et al, 2020. Still, there may be benefit to providing additional attempts past one retake for an exam (Kennedy, 1994).…”

“…Still, there may be benefit to providing additional attempts past one retake for an exam (Kennedy, 1994). In terms of who gets to take the exam, it can either be open to all students or those who score below a particular score on the first exam (Herman et al, 2019, Herman et al, 2020. Lastly, one can decide whether the score from the retested exam fully replaces the previous one or only partially (Herman et al, 2019, Herman et al, 2020.…”

“…Often grades also try to capture if a student is on the predefined timeline a teacher wants (Wormeli, 2006). If this accountability is not the goal, then full replacement of a test grade should be done, but this full grade replacement can lead to students not trying on the first exam as they know they have another chance (Friedman, 1987;Herman et al, 2019;Herman et al, 2020). One way around this is to use a form of partial grade replacement where the two or more test scores are averaged in some way to incentivize students to try on the first chance (Herman et al, 2019;Herman et al, 2020).…”

“…If this accountability is not the goal, then full replacement of a test grade should be done, but this full grade replacement can lead to students not trying on the first exam as they know they have another chance (Friedman, 1987;Herman et al, 2019;Herman et al, 2020). One way around this is to use a form of partial grade replacement where the two or more test scores are averaged in some way to incentivize students to try on the first chance (Herman et al, 2019;Herman et al, 2020). Grade replacement can also include caveats in the policy such as insurance, where a grade cannot go down, a grade cap, where after the first attempt there is a cap on one's max score moving forward, or imposing an additional assignment required to be completed prior to taking the retest.…”