Come the end of each grading period, be it a quarter, semester or entire year, teachers receive requests vying for them to offer additional remediation opportunities. Those worried about their academic standing in each class view this as a final opportunity to deflect some of the consequences of their current unchanged grade, but Spanish teacher Molly Von Appen believes that this act of cramming can be detrimental to the learning process.
“I don’t have a lot of students that ask for grade changes, but sometimes they’ll ask to do last minute remediation,” Von Appen said. “I guess I have two feelings on it. One, I’m glad that they’re coming at all to try and make it up. But on the other hand, it feels like it’s a little bit late.”
However, sophomore Claire Sparrowgrove believes the issue has multiple factors, including the remediation policy structure of teachers.
“It’s probably because I procrastinate a little bit, but also sometimes my teachers tend to give tests back really late so then you only have that week and a half of time to remediate,” Sparrowgrove said.
With the pressure for good grades amplified at the end of the grading period, Von Appen worries that focus on actual comprehension will fall to the wayside.
“It feels like it’s just a matter of trying to get a grade [and] I don’t think the students that are doing that realize that their grade is a reflection of the skills they’ve been developing,” Von Appen said.
The teachers believe that the end of the year is not the optimal time to remediate assignments, due to additional academic requirements such as SOLs as well as the time difference between the original assignment and its projected date of remediation.
“They generally have forgotten the information, they have too many other things on their plate, they don’t remember the facts and it’s much easier to remediate something right after or pretty close to right after you’ve done it,” Gannaway said.
Sparrowgrove agrees with this idea but attributes the lack of balance to the structure of the curriculum.
“Towards the end of the quarter, you tend to have those projects or big tests, so then you also have the remediation on top of that,” Sparrowgrove said. “Sometimes I feel like teachers don’t give you enough room to do the work for the class but also remediate.”
To alleviate this buildup, Von Appen suggests that each individual should spread out their efforts to strengthen their grades across the span of the whole year.
“Take advantage of remediation as it comes along,” Von Appen said. “That’s why a lot of classes have remediation deadlines that are two weeks or three weeks, rather than allowing remediation for the whole year.”
As for teachers, Sparrowgrove suggests that they communicate as a group and develop a united plan.
“Talk to each other and just have a plan and maybe be a little more lenient, or have a two-week period for remediation, especially for the end of the quarter,” Sparrowgrove said.