Should I allow students to correct work for higher grades?

Question

This is one area in my teaching that I have never felt complete conviction one way or the other. I teach 3rd grade, and my policy last year was that students MUST correct work below a C for a higher grade. Students who had a C or above could correct their work if they wanted to for a higher grade. I found that when students were given the choice to NOT correct that they just didn't do it. How do the rest of you elementary teachers do it? I'm toying with the idea of not allowing corrections so that students must try their hardest the 1st time around- but that seems a bit contradictory to teaching since students are supposed to master skills. What do you think?

Thanks for the answers so far. I should mention that I only give half-credit for corrections. As for extra credit- I feel that should be an opportunity for students who are on grade level, not students who are failing. It's extra- not meant as a replacement for expected growth.
I like the point about how grading is sometimes arbitrary.
I'm hoping to hear more from actual elementary teachers (no offense to anyone who's not a teacher) on their own policies.

Ranger, your analogy doesn't make much sense. The purpose of correcting work is to make sure the student understands the objective that the assignment was meant to assess in the first place. It's that whole "learning from your mistakes" deal adults are always harping on. I'm not asking my students to shovel snow to demonstrate their understanding of communities. I'm asking my students to correct the mistakes they made on an assignment created to assess their understanding of communities. If the original assignment is valid, then correcting that assignment might be construed as valid as well.

Answer 1

In my opinion, it is a good idea to require ALL students to correct their wrong answers on tests...but not in order to boost the grade received on the assessment. I do not believe in any form of extra credit b/c it does nothing but inflate the grade actually earned and provide unprepared students with second chances and
"grade band-aides". That doesn't prepare students properly for the real world out there and also doesn't teach them responsibility, accountability, etc. On the contrary, ...they learn to expect being given second chances and patch-up opportunities.

Answer 2

Correcting their own work is a great teaching tool. This is perfectly valid. Whether you allow them to change their mark is a moot point. Students who have already scored somewhere near the median might feel cheated if someone with a low mark was able to correct his/her mark and get approximately the same letter grade. Why not set up a pre-test, on which they would be graded, and could correct for a higher mark. This would be an incentive for the lower percentile. The median group might just decide this was worthwhile doing, and the upper percentile, who are perfectionists anyway, would welcome the opportunity.
This would be done the day before the real test was given. The real test could either be the pre-test, given again, which would show you who was actually learning something from the process (and would make a good control in case anyone queried what you were doing) or it could be similar to the pre-test with a few questions changed.
Good to see someone using a little initiative and questioning the standard way of testing!

Answer 3

Yes, I think they should be able to correct for a higher grade. And at third grade I would almost always have them correct their work - that is how they learn. It is important to let children know that it is ok to make mistakes, and that we can recover from them and repair them and learn from them. As adults, we do that all the time.

Grades are rather arbitrary aren't they? Most of us cannot guarantee that we grade absolutely fairly, the same way every time, grade everyone in the same way, assign fair and valid and reliable assignments truly representative of what was taught, show no favoritism, etc.

Also, students who try their hardest do not always get the best grades. Amount of effort put into a task is not always reflected in the grade - most parents who have raised more than one child can attest to that - people are different. We are all human, after all, and so are they. And this is third grade we are talking about here - and they are little children.

My thoughts, for what they are worth. I hope they are of some help. Good luck with it.

Answer 4

If a student turns in a paper and gets 80%, I feel that they should have the opportunity to do the research and correct the wrong answers for lets say half credit. So after they correct it, instead of getting 100%, you would give them 90%. It doesn't give them full credit, but there is an incentive to find out how to solve the problem and get a better grade. I think that all students want a better grade no matter what they say.

Answer 5

I can't believe corrections are allowed for a higher grade. Is this on tests or homework or both? I don't remember getting second chances when I was in elementary school. Allowing those that do poorly to correct their work for a different grade, discredits those who worked hard to get a good grade from the start.

Instead of allowing corrections, try offering extra credit assignments.

Answer 6

Absolutely. That is one of my policies. After all, the objective is to facilitate learning, and how can students learn from their mistakes-on assignments or otherwise-if they are not allowed to correct them? True, many students will turn this opportunity down, but they learn a valuable life lesson in the process: Correct your errors and mistakes or bear the consequences. A lower grade is the natural consequence of choosing not to correct their assignments.

Answer 7

well...maybe you could do something where the students must correct their lowest 3 scores.....(kind of like college professor dropping lowest test grade!??)
or have 2 assignments/topic..or whatever. ex...
you are doing multiplication...you give a quiz over the "8s" this week. next week you do the "9s" but you have a different quiz for the "8s" as a review.....if they do better the 2nd time they can replace the new grade for the old one well....then they might not try the first time.....again..going back to the first idea...maybe there needs to be some kind fo limit

Answer 8

No,dont make them redo the work, only undersome conditions
Mabye during sometime gather some students and go over the material again.Gather all of them in 5's 10 at most. You can gather one at a time.
And remeber dont just gather the one who has D's and F's
because that is embarrassing to the students.
after that offer extra credit. Dont make them redo it.Only sometimes do that, for example if the student got 3 d's or f's in a row, make them redo at least 1. and help them learn the material over.
i hated when my teachers didnt care about anything.

Answer 9

The basic question should be this..."Does correcting papers support the objectives of this class". If it's a class in correcting papers then yes. Otherwise I'd say no. Should I give my orchestra students extra credit for shoveling snow? If so, why?

Answer 10

nope