Missing a Test? Problem or Opportunity? Part 1

This is a continuation of my missing test pain. I've misplaced tests before. I've also had students show up on Monday with their test, they've accidentally taken home over the weekend. Both are miserable situations.


Based on experience, I've developed several options. I'll list them for you, and the reasons I made certain decisions in case you might need a bit of a insight or inglorious sympathy.


Scenario 1.:
I've misplaced the test. I've searched high and low and it's nowhere to be found. I've made a serious effort to find it; I've turned over filing cabinets. After being sufficiently exhausted, I have come to reflect on what do I do now?


Choice A: Have the student retake the test. This appears to be fair after explaining to the student that for some unearthly reason his or her test is not in the collected pile. This is excruciating to the dedicated student who had spent hours preparing for the test. This is a mild surprise for most others. Be sensitive to the difference.


The key here I think is to rapidly offer the choice: not wait for a week or more. The material studied is slipping from their mind, and they won't be on top of the tested items as before. This is especially true if you have moved onto another subject.


I also think it's appropriate to offer a choice of retake dates. This permits the student time to review their notes and to work around other possible tests. I always assume the student cares about doing well. In the opposite case, if I slam them through an immediate re-take, I am setting them up for a stressful fail. Is that really fair? When you've misplaced the test, that you now put them in a perilous position? Also look at it from a parent's point of view: "You lost the test. Now you're freaking out over my son retaking this test with no prep time?".


Choice B: Have the student take an alternate test. Careful with this one. It appears to be an easy solution, but how appropriate is it? For example, offering an essay response when the class has prepared for a multiple choice test. Does the alternate test cover all the same material which the class has studied? You have to review the test. If you have a good series of textbooks, sometimes this isn't a problem but you must be diligent about testing this student on the same playing field as his classmates.


Choice C: If a lot of time has passed, say a week or more, you have the choice of excusing the test. This may work as a one time option. You might have a few tests coming up. You might have several quizzes on the same material already done. The missing test may not affect this student's grades very much at all. It depends.

Overall, I want to also state that the class still needs to review the test. In the past, I've held onto a test review "until everyone has taken the test". But you know what? That's silly. The material needs to be reviewed when it is fresh in the mind of the class. Now, when a student has to retake a test (for an absence, for example), I send them out of my classroom to another classroom or the library and I review the test with the class. The student who is making up the test will not have the review day, unless I personally sit down with them and review it with them. Sometimes it has worked where the student actually takes the test while at the library, when I am reviewing the test with the class. If the student isn't taking the test, I keep everyone honest and to avoid temptation, I collect the tests back after being reviewed, until all students have finished taking the test.
...To be continued