Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Okay. So, the tests are graded and entered. There was only one perfect score, and many many imperfect scores. Given that on the nights before the test I had fewer than 30 visits to the website, and after talking to many of you, I am confident that most people did not study. For the most part, this resulted in an unusual grade distribution, with many people getting A's and B's (if they studies the correct material appropriately,) or D's and F's if they did not do so. I threw out some of the questions that most people missed that I agreed were too challenging, and the resulting average in all classes was around a middle C.
So, a few ideas based on this: effective students who did well are those that create high quality flashcards, and then use them. I have students who studied low quality flashcards (not enough information or detail, which were made just to get the homework grade for having them done on time,) and who didn't know enough to do well, no matter how much they studied, because the flashcards lacked details. I also have students who simply didn't study, or who studied the wrong information. Remember, I set up tests AFTER we have finished the material in class. This means that AS WE MOVE ON TO NEW TOPICS, you are still supposed to study the old material. The alternative is no study time as we immediately take the test before moving on to new subjects, or to waste class time reviewing material, when the goal is to be an independent and disciplined learner.
So, partially to address this, I am shortening the gap between finishing a unit in class by taking the formative assessment and taking the summative version to just 1 week, or seven days, or 5 school days. Secondarily, let me make it clear that success on this means you are actually reviewing the material several days in advance, and that you are using detailed and high quality materials. If you simply throw some words on a flashcard to get quick credit for it, you are getting an easy low value grade in exchange for a low high value grade later, which is....stupid from a long-term standpoint.
In any case, today we took our Formative Assessment for Eukaryotic Cell Structures. That means that the Summative Test on Eukaryotes will be next Thursday. I am also going to change how formative test grades are entered. I have been including the original score (first time through) for teh formative tests in the comments section, but I worry that people are ignoring that information and just looking at the overall grade. Since previously this grade is from the test that has been corrected when using notes and then regraded, I am concerned that people are assuming they know the material and will do well on the Summative version because they got a good grade, when it is the lower original grade that is the most informative as a rpedictor of how people will do if they DON'T study. With this in mind, I believe I will enter both grades for before corrections and after. The before grade to clearly indicate how well you will do without preparation, and the after grade as a sort of buffer for the presumably low first grade and as an assessment of the quality of study materials. I'm as yet unsure if I'll enter those as formative versus homework category grades. I'll update to reflect that later.
Otherwise, in social studies we just handed the due work in. Tomorrow we will review the Invasion SARs, and in science we will get into our new unit: cell division and genetics.